Blue Heart
by AmazonGold
Summary: Guilty Alice (By NTT Solmare) Fanfic: Dee had a pretty ordinary life until the day she bought a jewellry box and her whole world gets turned upside down as she's dragged into Wonderland and accused of a crime she didn't realise she'd commited. What can she do to escape her fate?


Dee was feeling a little overwhelmed after all the information she'd been given by the five men that appeared in her home after her 'trial' in Wonderland. Her brain couldn't process the fact that she had to fall in love within a month or she'd be executed. She had quickly made some tea and told everyone to wait in the living room while she got a shower and got dressed.

In truth she had wanted some time to organise her thoughts, she let the warm water run over her as she went through the sequence of events in her head. _'Right, so yesterday I went into a shop I'd never noticed before. It was full of glassware and a stained glass jewellery box caught my eye. When I opened it there was some sort of red heart shaped jewel in it but as soon as I touched it, it shattered. I tried to apologise to the shopkeeper (who I now know is Cheshire Cat but at the time I thought was a weird man in a cat hood – which I suppose he still is, actually) but he said the box had always been empty. So, I ended up buying the jewellery box and came home.'_

Dee turned off the shower and squeezed the water out of her reddish brown hair. She stepped out and wrapped herself in a towel before drying her hair by hand initially._ 'When I went to sleep, I found myself in a courtroom. I thought I was dreaming but it felt more real than anything I've ever dreamt before. The Red Queen kept calling me 'Alice' and shouting about how I stole and broke her 'Heart'. She declared me Guilty and I was dragged to the guillotine by a card soldier – I think he was called Cardia(?) before I could even work out what was going on. Then Cheshire Cat piped up with his suggestion that I make a replacement 'Heart' to give to the Queen. She seemed to like this idea and put off my execution for a month to give me the chance to make one, she was even willing to provide five potential candidates. I was confused but I gathered from the discussion that 1) Only women can make a 'Heart', 2) A 'Heart' is also called an Awakening Crystal and is formed when a woman falls in love for the first time, 3) For making a 'Heart' it's sufficient if only the woman falls in love and 4) If the 'Heart' is taken away then she loses all the memories associated with creating that 'Heart'. Then when I woke up, I found Joker, Prince Sakuto, Mad Hatter, Ash and Bill in my bedroom.'_

Once she had towel dried her hair, she picked up her hairdryer to finish it off. She turned it on as she stood in front of her mirror and started to brush her damp hair. All of a sudden, her bathroom door burst open as Sakuto and Joker rushed in, flanked closely by the other three, all with weapons drawn. Dee dropped her hairbrush in shock but managed to hold on to the dryer – and more importantly, she kept the towel from falling as she whirled around.

"What on Earth do you think you're doing?!" She shouted; her voice shrill. Sakuto was looking around like he was expecting to see something, Joker had noticed what Dee was wearing, or more likely, what she was *not* wearing and had averted his eyes. A quick glance at Ash and Bill found them doing likewise whereas Mad seemed to be oblivious to the situation at hand.

"We heard roaring and thought you were in trouble so we came to help!" Mad declared with his big happy grin. "Looks like we surprised it and chased it off… I can still hear it though." He continued with a small frown as he looked around. Dee couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. She used her thumb to flick her hairdryer off, on and off again to show them what the 'roaring' was.

"This, gentleman, is called a 'hairdryer'. It blows out hot air to help hair dry faster." Dee was surprised at how steady her voice was right now, though she was pretty sure her face was bright red. She wanted to yell at them but they couldn't help it, and they had tried to run to her rescue. "As you can see, I'm perfectly safe. Now, if you'd kindly *leave* my bathroom so I can finish getting sorted, I'd appreciate it." Bill, Ash and Joker pretty much fled the room before she'd finished speaking. Mad was looking amazed and seemed to want to ask questions about the hairdryer but Sakuto put his rapier away and started pushing him out before turning around.

"We are so terribly, terribly sorry, Dee, please forgive us." He said with an apologetic bow before leaving and closing the bathroom door behind him.

Dee stared at the back of the door for a moment before bending down to pick up her hairbrush and carried on drying her hair. _'This is going to be… interesting, to say the least. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, I woke up and found five men in my room. I learned that for the next month, all six of us will be going between this world and Wonderland and that Wonderland is split up into four countries: Gardenia (Sakuto is the White Prince of that country), Protea (Where the Red Queen rules, Joker is from there.), Alchemilla (A land of free spirits and nomads) and Gentiana. The Black King rules Gentiana and no one had anything nice to say about it, it's a hostile country with clear ambitions of expanding their territory. I was even told it would be dangerous for an 'Alice' to go there. My initial impressions of everyone were that Prince Sakuto was a true gentleman and very nice, almost too nice to be true. But thinking that probably says more about me than him, I guess. Bill is from Alchemilla and said he was a carpenter and is cheerful, likeable and seems to get on very well with Prince Sakuto.'_

Dee finished with her hair and started to get dressed _'Mad also lives in Alchemilla. He called me adorable and cute right off the bat, but I got the feeling he meant it in the same way someone might call a doll or a puppy adorable and cute. While he's extremely friendly, social conventions seem to be completely lost on him… the 'hairdryer' incident just confirmed that in my mind. Ash seems nice enough but all he's really done is stand next to Mad, not listening and looking half asleep – that said, he seemed wide awake when he ran in with that greatsword when they came to try and rescue me. He seems to be good friends with Mad, even if Mad did call him 'motivationally challenged'. Joker seemed distant and unfriendly… but, then again, he *was* the first one to ask for my actual name, which is when I learnt that 'Alice' is Wonderland's word for 'Outsider' or 'Foreigner' and he was pretty quick to jump in when I was threatened by a roaring hairdryer so he can't be a bad guy… The last thing I learned was that if I die in Wonderland, I'll die here too.'_

Dee looked in the mirror and nodded to herself now she'd got everything straight in her head. The guys said the Red Queen had used her magic to provide them with a place to live, money and other things they'd need in this world. Her desire for a 'Heart' makes her go to these extreme lengths. So Dee had no doubt the Red Queen would kill her if she failed to make one, or refused to hand it over at the end of this.

Dee shook her head _'No point panicking about it now, I have a month, let's see what happens.' _She walked out of the bathroom, not intending to mention the previous incident, it was embarrassing enough for all concerned, except maybe Mad. A quick glance found four men in her living room and Ash asleep in her bed, snoring quietly.

"You almost looked disappointed to see us there, Dee." Bill said with a big easy going smile at seeing her sigh.

"Yeah, well… no offence but part of me is still hoping this is just some very strange dream." The girl said honestly. "Anyway, how did you guys all get roped into doing this?" They had implied the Red Queen hadn't given them much of a choice... but there was an awkward pause. Dee gave another sigh, but internally this time _'I knew it. There's something in it for them, of course there is.'_.

Dee was broken out of her thoughts by someone grabbing her wrist and dragging her along,

"Come on, it's not like you have the time to be standing around asking questions." Joker said in a gruff way. The woman was stunned by what was happening initially but the shock wore off as the pair of them left her apartment block and she dug in her heels.

"How about you don't drag me around like a sack of potatoes? You think we can do that?" She asked rhetorically as she tugged her wrist out of Joker's grip and rubbed it while shooting him an annoyed glare. Joker looked a little shamefaced at seeing her reddened skin.

"Uh, sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you." He said as he put his hands into his pockets, Dee couldn't help thinking he looked like an adorable little kid right then and forgave him quickly.

"It's ok, I'm fine… but where were you trying to take me?" She questioned him. Joker looked down again and mumbled.

"I didn't really have anywhere planned but you were just looking so lost and anxious…" He didn't seem to want to admit that he was concerned about her. Dee was touched though and gave him a warm smile.

"Alright, let's go somewhere together then…" She offered; Joker looked up in surprise but he then gave a small smile. "Oh, but first we should go to the place you said the Red Queen sorted for you to get changed, you kinda stand out in that outfit. People might think you are a street performer or maybe a mime." Her first thought on his clothes had been that he looked like a rather sulky, black and red court jester.

"A what?" Joker queried with a confused look. _'Oh, come on! Doesn't Wonderland have mimes? They'd fit right in!'_.

"I'll explain later, let's just go for now." Dee said with a shake of her head but she was still smiling.

* * *

Dee was stood in the living room to the place the Red Queen had sorted out for her possible suitors. It reminded her of a dormitory in a lot of ways. All the boys had their own rooms but there was a shared kitchen, living room and other facilities. _'It's nice they'll all be close to each other. It's gotta be as weird for them here as it is gonna be for me in Wonderland.'_

"Ok, I'm done. Sorry to keep you waiting." Joker announced as he came out of his room in clothes for this world. At noticing Dee's look, he asked worriedly. "What? Have I picked a weird outfit?"

"Oh no, not at all! I was just thinking it suits you very well, especially the leather jacket." Dee answered him with a smile, his red highlighted black hair finished off the 'bad boy' look perfectly.

"O-oh really? I just chose clothes I liked the look of…" Joker mumbled before looking away, his cheeks a touch pink. He regained enough composure to ask "So what do people in this world usually do for a first date?"

"It depends really, but common ones are going to a movie, to a restaurant, maybe the park or the art gallery. Events and festivals are good if there's any on." Dee listed with a thoughtful look. "Though I've never thought going to watch a movie was a good idea for a first date, the whole point is to get to know the other person, right? And you can't do that in a cinema because you can't talk." By the time she realised she was rambling, Joker was looking at her with another bewildered look.

"I didn't understand the vast majority of what you just said." He told her. "I'll just leave it up to you." Dee found his wide eyed look endearing and she laughed.

"Alright, let's keep it casual to start with and go to a coffeeshop." She decided with a smile, "I spotted one in the plaza opposite this place." Dee said as the pair of them headed out the building.

Once they got into the coffeeshop, Dee told Joker to find them a table while she went up to the counter to order. She had no idea how he liked his coffee so she just ordered him a black coffee and made sure to put milk and sugar on the tray. As an afterthought she picked up a slice of cake and a few cookies too.

"You didn't have to pay for that, the Red Queen gave us plenty of this world's currency to use." Joker reminded her when she brought the tray over and sat down.

"Don't worry about it, I'm not exactly hurting for money so it's not a big deal." Dee replied as she put his coffee down in front of him. "I didn't know what you'd like so I just got you a black coffee, you can add some milk and sugar if it's too strong. I'm drinking a mocha which is coffee and chocolate. You can have a sip if you'd like to try it." Joker picked up his cup and took a deep inhale before taking an experimental sip.

"We've got coffee in Wonderland but nothing this rich. It's really good." He didn't seem to need to add anything to it.

"Well if you like that then you might like these cookies. It's dark chocolate chip, goes well with the coffee." Dee suggested as she slid the plate with the cookies over to him.

"Thanks… you're a really considerate person, aren't you?" Joker commented with a smile as he put down his cup so he could have one of the cookies. He picked it up and stared at it for a while. "It's very quiet."

"What is? The shop?" Dee asked in puzzlement as Joker carried on staring at his cookie. "Wait, what? Do cookies make noises in Wonderland or something?"

"Yeah, lots of things talk and jump around. I was just thinking the food here seemed very quiet and lazy." Joker said, his completely serious demeanour making Dee burst out laughing. "What's so funny?!" He demanded, sounding annoyed.

"Sorry! Sorry! I know it's not your fault." Dee reached out to squeeze his forearm in apology as she tried to calm down before explaining. "Joker, the food in this world doesn't move or talk. In fact, humans are the only beings that talk. Animals move around but don't talk either."

"Oh, I see. I did wonder why I couldn't understand what the birds were saying as we walked here." Joker admitted with a sheepish little smile, more than slightly embarrassed.

"You know, I'm not sure I could bring myself to eat talking food." Dee took pity on him and changed the subject with a thoughtful look as she used her fork to cut a small piece of her cake. She spotted Joker looking curious and said. "Oh, this is a lemon drizzle cake. You want to try a bit?" At his nod, she handed over her fork so he could cut off a piece for himself.

"It's nice, it's a lot sweeter than I thought it would be, being lemon, without being too sweet." Joker observed with another small smile once he'd tasted it.

"I make a mean lemon drizzle cake, if I do say so myself. I'll see about making one for you and the guys at some point." Dee told him as she picked up her mocha again.

"Yeah? I'll hold you to that. Though I don't think Mad would like it, he can't stand anything even remotely bitter. You should see the amount of sugar he puts in his tea." Joker remarked as the pair continued to chat over their coffees.

* * *

A few days later, Dee was carrying three semi-rigid cake boxes stacked one on top of another. She was heading over to the Wonderland boys' place to spend the evening with them. She balanced the three boxes in one hand briefly so she could ring the bell.

"Dee! Brilliant, you're here!" Bill greeted her with a big grin when he saw her, wearing an oversized yellow jumper. "Let me take those from you." He offered.

"Ok, but don't squeeze them, you'll mess up the decorations." She warned as she handed them to Bill and followed him into the open plan kitchen/living room where the other four greeted her warmly. Dee had to admit, she was pleasantly surprised at how quickly she'd become comfortable with these guys. Admittedly she had spent more time with Joker than anyone else right now but she'd still made time for all of them. She enjoyed being their guide in her world.

However, the nights she'd spent in Wonderland had been hard for her. It seemed like almost everyone else except these five saw her as nothing but an 'Alice' and a convicted criminal to boot. Most citizens gave her the cold shoulder while others stared and whispered horrible things about her behind her back.

Though she had made friends with a pair of adorable eight year old blonde twins called Humpty and Dumpty. They called Joker their older brother but they seem to love all the others too. They weren't afraid of Dee, quite the opposite, they were interested in her and seemed to warm up to her very quickly. _'If only the whole of Wonderland could be as openminded as the twins.'_

"Wow! Would you just look at these cakes!" Dee was brought back to the present by Mad's excited shout. She went over to the kitchen counter where everyone was gathered.

"This is a lemon drizzle cake, this is a chocolate fudge cake and that one is a strawberry cheesecake, all the decorations are edible too." Dee informed them as she pointed to each in turn. "I decided to make three to hopefully cater for everyone's tastes."

"They're really… pretty." Ash said in his quiet murmuring manner but he was smiling. Joker had already got the cake knife out, looking intently at the lemon drizzle cake.

"Yes, these look professionally made. Did you do all the decorations yourself?" Sakuto asked as he looked at the icing flowers on the cheesecake, they looked like delicate little cherry blossoms on a tree branch. The fudge cake was covered with alternating white and milk chocolate piped icing drops. Finally, the lemon drizzle cake had lemon slices made of icing and candied peel covering half of the top.

"Yeah… baking and decorating cakes is kind of a passion of mine. I didn't have much time so these aren't as fancy as they could have been if I'd planned better." Dee replied with a slightly embarrassed smile. "I've entered a load of competitions before and even won a couple with my designs." By now everyone had got a slice of one cake or another and were looking suitably impressed by that little detail.

"Oh my! This cake isn't just insanely beautiful, it's ridiculously tasty! You have to teach me how to make these, Dee!" Mad had just taken a bite of a slice of chocolate fudge cake. Bill chuckled and nudged Mad.

"Don't forget there's no magic in this world." He reminded him over his slice of cheesecake. As Dee had soon found out, Mad was a very powerful magician. He could summon up a banquet table and fill it with tea and cakes instantly with just a wave of his cane. Dee had found it incredibly surprising and awe inspiring, real magic was the stuff of her childhood fantasies.

"That means you made all these by hand?!" The hatter looked like his mind had been blown. "Dee, you are amazing!" Dee laughed, rubbing the back of her neck, she wasn't used to receiving much praise, but it was definitely appreciated.

"I'm just glad you all like them." She said with a grin. Joker cut another slice of the lemon drizzle cake and put it on a plate and held it out to Dee.

"You'd better take this slice as I'm about to demolish the rest of this cake by myself." Joker declared and it didn't look like he was kidding.

"Oh, that reminds me of something I meant to ask you about, Dee." Sakuto said as he turned to her. "Joker and I were talking in the park earlier and a couple of people overheard Joker's name and came to ask if it really was his name. They seemed really excited when he said that it was, but they didn't tell us why and left before we could ask."

"Oh, it must be different in Wonderland then." Dee commented as she gave half of her slice of cake to Ash after spotting him eyeing up the lemon cake like he wanted some but didn't fancy fighting Joker for it. "A joker here usually signifies a trump card or a wildcard. It's a pretty cool name actually, in my opinion."

"What's a trump card and a wild card?" Joker asked, visibly taken aback by hearing someone say his name was cool.

"Well a trump card is usually something that wins no matter what, like in card games, a trump card would win a hand even if it wasn't the highest card played." Dee supressed a smile when she saw Ash taking his chance to grab a slice of cake while Joker was distracted with her.

"And a wildcard is usually a good thing to have to hand as it can be used as a substitute for anything. Like if you were trying to order all the cards in one suit in sequence but one was missing, then you can use the wildcard instead and it would still work. Oh! And also, if you call someone 'a joker' then it means someone who likes a laugh and telling jokes." She added as an afterthought

"Ok, so that last thing sounds more like me than you, Joker!" Mad interjected with his wide smile. If anyone else had said that then it could have been interpreted as a dig at Joker's gruff and blunt personality but Dee was pretty sure there wasn't a snide bone in Mad's body.

"Yeah, that's… something else. I can't believe that's what my name means here…" Joker still looked shocked but he was smiling. "Hey! When did you manage to get another slice of the lemon cake? You really are a sneaky mouse, Ash!"

"Share the cakes, Joker, I made enough for everyone." Dee chided him with a laugh as she pulled up a stool so she could sit at the counter island.

"I have another… question for you…" Ash turned his half open eyes to the girl sitting next to him. He was wearing a thick blue hoodie. Dee had noticed he dressed more warmly than the others. _'He must be one who feels the cold more.'_ "You live alone in that… flat, right? Where's… your family?"

"Oh, I was an only child and my parents both died a long time ago so I don't have any living family." Dee replied casually and an understandable hush descended over the guys. She was about to say something to lighten the mood when Ash suddenly put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a firm squeeze.

"I'm sorry to hear that…" He said in low voice. When Dee looked into Ash's amber eyes there was empathy and sadness, she got the feeling he understood what it was like to lose someone very close to them.

"Thanks, Ash… I'm honestly ok. I miss them but no one can mourn forever." Dee gave him an appreciative smile before looking over to Bill. "Though that does remind me. When I was getting sorted to come over, I managed to knock my music box on the floor and it broke. It's something my mother gave to me so it's important to me, do you think you might be able to fix it for me, please?" Bill gave her a big smile and nodded.

"I'm sure I could. I'll walk you home later so I can take a look at it. Sound good to you?" He offered and Dee gave him an emphatic nod back.

"My turn to ask a question!" Dee announced after a moment and turned her gaze to Mad. "Which do you like more: Tea or Hats?" She'd noticed that both his Wonderland and 'modern' outfits had included large hats and every second word out of his mouth was 'Tea' or 'Tea party'.

"Oh boy, here we go…" Joker muttered with an eyeroll. The hatter didn't seem to hear or care as he put down his cake plate with a thoughtful expression.

"That's a good question, Dee, I ask that myself on a regular basis and I can never settle on one or the other. I love making all my own clothes, including my hats but nothing beats a really lively tea party with cakes and sweets… Oh, it's no good! I still can't decide!" The magician carried on listing everything he liked about tea and hats until the White Prince took it upon himself to break the endless verbal circles.

"Mad, do you think you could recommend some tea to go with this delicious cheesecake?" Sakuto asked, already well into his third slice.

"I think I can do a little better than that…" Mad declared with a laugh before waving his cane and three different tea sets appeared, the colours and designs matching with the decorations on each of the cakes. "We've got three different cakes so we need three different teas, right?"

"But of course we do…" Sakuto agreed with a fond smile as he went to pour himself a cup. _'This is really great. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun.'_ Dee thought as their energetic little get together continued.

* * *

After Dee went to sleep that night, she woke up in Wonderland _'Oh, looks like I'm in Alchemilla.' _She thought before realising she was near the Talking Flowerbed again. They were like the awful group of girls in every school that were always nasty and picking on people.

"Oh look, the 'Alice' is back!" A voice stage whispered from the flowers. "I hope she doesn't come over, just looking at her is enough to make me wilt." Dee sighed to herself and got to her feet, dusting her jeans off. The guys had told her to ignore them but it was easier said than done. She was about to walk away and see if she could find one of her friends when she heard another voice.

"Apparently Joker is one of the people she's supposed to make a 'Heart' with. They deserve one another 'Guilty Alice' and Joker."

"You can't be serious! There's no way Joker would be interested in the 'Alice'! He's obviously just doing it for his own purposes. He'll probably ask the Red Queen to change his name or something." Dee knew she should just keep walking and pretend she hadn't heard that but her curiosity got the better of her, so she turned around and approached the flowers

"Excuse me…" She started, being careful not to actually stand in the bed. They had all shouted blue murder at her last time she'd done that. "Why would Joker want to change his name?" At first the only response to her question was cruel, raucous laughter before one sunflower deigned to reply.

"Are you serious? You must be really stupid, Alice, to not know the answer to that." The tone was so scornful that Dee had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself snapping back.

"It seems the name 'Joker' means two completely different things in my world and Wonderland. So, if you could tell me what it means here, I'd greatly appreciate it." Dee's tone was as polite and civil as she could manage, though she couldn't help glaring at them.

"We aren't going to tell you anything, Alice, but why don't you ask him yourself?" A self-righteous iris told her, looking pointedly at something behind her. Dee span around and saw Joker standing there, looking unhappy but she wasn't sure if it was directed at her or the flowers. After a moment he jerked his head to tell Dee to follow him without speaking before turning to walk away.

Dee trailed after him, not able to bring herself to say anything to try and dispel the awkward silence. Eventually Joker stopped and lent with his back against a large tree and folded his arms across his chest. Initially unsure what to do, ultimately Dee stood next to him and did the same. It was a little while before Joker started talking.

"The Red Queen chose my name when I was born. My father was the head gardener at Crimson Castle and there was a blight that made all the roses wilt. Nothing he or the other gardeners could have done would have made any difference, they still would have died. But the Queen was furious and decreed that my father's new born son would be called Joker." He didn't look at Dee as he talked and even though he was speaking quietly there was a definite undercurrent of resentment.

"And why is that such a bad name here?" Dee prompted him cautiously, she wanted to know why Joker shied away from most people and even seemed to hate Wonderland at times.

"Card suit ranks go from Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs and Spades. Well there's another rank, much lower than Spades and that rank is Joker. Simply put it's the lowest class in all of Wonderland. Pretty much everyone here has treated me like trash since the day I was born just because of my name… Just because some goddamned roses died." The bitterness in his voice was slowly turning into rage the longer he spoke. Dee was reminded of something Joker had told her previously, he'd said the two knives he carried around were for self-defence, now she knew why. _'It all makes perfect sense.'_

"So you offered to help the 'Alice' make a 'Heart' in the hopes that you could get your name changed if you were the partner she fell in love with, right?" Dee asked him. Joker stiffened at her choice of wording before letting out a big sigh.

"Yeah… yeah, I did." He didn't sound proud of himself as he finally looked her in the eye. "Are you angry with me now?"

"No, I'm not angry, you had good reasons… reasons I can sympathise with more than you know." Dee stated as she shook her head and took a moment to collect her thoughts. "I guess I'm… disappointed more than anything."

"Disappointed?" Joker repeated looking at her sadly. At Dee's nod, he continued. "I think I might have preferred angry." Dee gave a wry smile at that; she could tell his contrition was genuine but that didn't change the fact that he'd started out intending to use her. Dee moved so she was standing in front of him.

"I'm sorry I can't grant your wish for you." She said sincerely as reached out to give his wrist a squeeze. He'd misled her but she didn't hate him, far from it. "I'll see you later, Joker." She told him before turning to walk away, it seemed to be the best thing to do for now.

Dee hadn't been walking with a destination in mind but had somehow crossed over into Gardenia and found herself outside Chalk Castle. Sakuto was just returning with some Rabbit Knights when he spotted her and came over.

"Hello, Dee! It's nice to see you." He greeted her with a gentle smile, but it thinned out a little at seeing her demeanour. "What's wrong? Have people been being mean to you again?" He enquired, sounding concerned.

"Hey, Prince Sakuto. Something like that…" Dee replied before deciding not to mention Joker. "Landed by the Talking Flowerbed." She added by way of explanation.

"Ah, I see…" Sakuto said with a knowing look before continuing. "I seem to remember promising to show you the castle library the other day, why don't we do that now?"

"Oh yes, you did! Sure, I'd love to." Dee responded, immediately brightening and a smile finally coming back to her face as she walked with Sakuto into the castle.

Sakuto greeted all the staff they came across as they passed, he knew all their names and even more personal details like a child's birthday or a wedding anniversary. _'It's little things like that that make the staff adore Prince Sakuto.'_ No one in Chalk Castle had ever said anything nasty to her either, so it was easier for her to feel comfortable here.

When they entered the castle library Dee was lost for words, everywhere she looked there were wall to wall bookcases, multiple levels filled from floor to ceiling with countless books. It was exactly what a library in a castle should look like.

"Hehe, your eyes are sparkling like a child in a sweet shop, Dee, do you like books?" Sakuto was watching her with a pleased smile on his face.

"I love books, it's the ultimate in escapism, don't you think? Getting lost in another world that you'll never go to and having adventures with people you'll never meet." Dee told him, sounding nostalgic as she approached the nearest shelf to browse. "And the best thing is that Wonderland has books that don't exist in my world. Reading something for the very first time is always such a magical feeling, I love it."

Dee was looking when the title of a book caught her eye and she went to pull it out. However as soon as the book was clear of the others, it flew from her hand and snapped at her, almost clamping down on her fingers.

"Careful, Dee! You can't just pull most books out like that without warning. It scares them and scared books bite." Sakuto warned as he pulled Dee towards him before the angry book could go for her again. Dee was still staring at the book with wide eyed shock before she suddenly dissolved into giggles.

"Ohhhhh! Now I understand! Now I get it!" She managed to say while her shoulders shook with mirth, she was trying to muffle herself a bit seeing as they were in a library.

"Care to fill me in on the joke?" Sakuto asked with a bemused look as tears started to appear at the corners of Dee's eyes. She took a few quick deep breaths to try and calm herself before explaining.

"Right, so you remember when we went to a library in my world and you kept asking the librarian where the 'safe' books were?" At Sakuto's nod, she continued. "Well books don't bite in my world, so the librarian thought you wanted books that were 'safe for kids' which is why we ended up in the children's section!" Dee burst into fresh peals of laughter at remembering Sakuto wondering why the books were so basic and the chairs were so small.

"O-oh, I see. Yes, that makes perfect sense now." Sakuto murmured with a deep blush as Dee held on to her sides which were aching as she tried to calm herself down, but every time she looked at Sakuto she doubled over again with fresh giggles.

"I'd recognise that hysterical laughter anywhere!" A familiar voice called down from above and Dee looked up to see Bill on the second level of the library. However instead of using the stairs, he hopped over the railings and jumped down to them.

"As agile as ever…" Sakuto remarked to his friend with a fond smile.

"Well I am of the Lizard clan, no one is better than us at climbing and I'm the best in the clan." Bill declared with a smug grin.

"So modest of you to say so too!" Dee told him with an amused shake of her head, having finally regained her composure. Though she was making sure not to look at the prince for now, just in case.

"Glad I caught you, Dee, thanks for letting me take the music box back to our place. It's gonna be a pretty easy fix. I'll swing by tomorrow after I'm done with it." Bill told her as he readjusted his tool belt, he was probably there doing some repairs at Chalk Castle.

"So it can definitely be repaired? That's brilliant, Bill, thank you so much!" Dee was delighted and pounced on him to give him a hug, nearly knocking him over in the process. "Oh sorry, I got a little over excited. I really love that music box." She looked sheepish as she let him go.

"I can tell! …Well we can't be doing too badly if we've already got to the flying hug stage, right?" Bill asked, seemingly delighted by this turn of events. Dee fumbled, unsure how to respond to such a direct enquiry so the prince came to her rescue by changing the subject.

"How's the balcony railings you were looking at?" Sakuto asked the carpenter, getting down to business.

"Fine, fixed them up and gave them a coat of sealant that will repel water damage and should make them last longer." Bill answered with a nod, making Sakuto give him a smile of thanks.

"That's a good question…" Dee suddenly said as she watched them. "Have you always been a repairman/carpenter, Bill?" What she wasn't expecting was for them both to freeze and look at each other awkwardly, though Sakuto recovered quickly,

"It's probably painfully obvious that the answer to that question is no, but it's up to Bill if he wants to tell you the details." The White Prince informed her, while Bill looked like he was internally debating just that.

"Oh well, it's not like it's really a secret anyway." The carpenter declared as he made up his mind. "Truth is, Dee, I'm actually a former thief." Bill struck a dramatic pose and flicked his green hair for effect.

"Oh really?" Dee chuckled at his theatrics, looking interested _'For some reason that doesn't come as a shock to me.'_ "So how do we go from thief to carpenter?"

"Well I was a pretty amazing thief but I eventually got a bit full of myself and decided to steal something from Crimson Castle." Bill rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "We both know how bad an idea that is. Getting in wasn't hard, getting out with the loot proved impossible when I got caught in a magical trap."

"How did you get out with your head still attached to the rest of you?" Dee asked him, sympathising entirely with his plight right now.

"Well that's where Sakuto came in. He happened to be visiting Crimson Castle the day of my trial and told the Red Queen that killing someone with my obvious talents would be a waste, seeing as I managed to get in past all the guards and traps without being caught." Dee had to smile at the warm look Bill was giving the White Prince right now. "He suggested I could use my climbing skills as a repairman, she ordered me to fix some difficult to reach holes in one of the towers and she was so impressed with the work that she pardoned me… so now I'm making an honest living."

"That's an amazing story! Did you already know Bill at that point, Prince Sakuto?" Dee had a big smile on her face as she turned to the Rabbit Prince.

"Not at all. I just happen to believe that all lives are precious and I can't stand by if someone is going to be killed needlessly and there's something I can do to help." Sakuto's answer was heartfelt and it was clear that was one of his core ideals that he lived by.

"Yeah, I didn't even thank him initially. It took me a while to realise that he didn't want anything from me and that he was actually that nice." Bill admitted before turning to the girl. "So, Dee, do you think less of me because I used to be a thief?"

"What do you think?" She asked him as she grinned at him.

"Heh, somehow I knew it wouldn't bother you." Bill smiled as he ruffled her hair. "I gotta shoot off now, still some repairs to be done but I'll catch you later in the Alice world if I don't see you before." He gave them a wave before darting off again.

"Alright, so how about I teach you how to pick up the books here without scaring them?" Sakuto offered. Dee immediately bit down on her lip hard and swallowed a laugh before saying.

"Sounds good to me, let's do this."

* * *

As the first week since Dee's trial drew to a close, Bill was coming back to the apartment he shared with the others in the Alice world, having been out for a run. He called out a greeting as he came in, getting multiple shouts back. It looked like Sakuto was dealing with some official correspondence in the kitchen at the counter. Mad was watching a cookery show on the TV in the living room, Ash was asleep sitting next to him and Joker was reading a motorcycle magazine in an armchair.

"No one with Dee tonight, then?" Bill asked rhetorically, seeing as they were all there before he frowned and added. "I don't think we've even heard from her today actually." He sat on a stool in the kitchen with Sakuto while he pulled his phone out. The Red Queen had given them all these devices called 'smart phones' so they could keep in touch with each other and Dee had set up a group chat for them. Bill quickly tapped in a message.

:: Hey Dee! You've been very quiet today, are you alive? ::

:: Lol, yes, still alive. There's a cake decorating contest on soon that I've entered and I've been doing a full practise run all day. Literally just put the finishing touches on it. Wanna see? ::

:: Oh yes please! :: Mad put in instantly with an excited look on his face, nudging Ash awake.

A series of photos popped into the group to show the cake from different angles and close ups of detail work. The five of them were initially speechless. It was a large three-tiered cake… and it was Wonderland themed. Each cake layer was covered with different brightly coloured striped royal icing but it was the sugar work decorations that really caught their attention.

At the base of the cake there was a beautiful white rabbit that was trying to climb on to the bottom tier. Dee had used off white icing to create shadows and shading to give the rabbit definition and it's eyes were ice blue, just like Sakuto's. Joker glanced over to the White Prince and noticed that his rabbit ears had popped out due to his surprise and his cheeks were red too.

Sitting on the bottom tier on another side of the cake there was a light and dark blue checkered teapot with bright green eyes and Mad's enormous smile. The equally happy teacup next to it was yellow and tan and Dee had sculpted it to look like the tea was sloshing out of the cup due to the tea cup's dancing.

"She used the colours of my bow tie and trousers! How wonderful! This must be what she meant by 'fancy'… It's amazing!" The hatter exclaimed in pure delight.

Leaning against the wall of the second tier there was a chocolate icing ladder and standing at the top of it was a green lizard in work overalls wearing a tool belt and wielding a hammer.

"Oh, I thought those were just long gloves but they're not. Bill, she's copied your archery vambraces." Sakuto mentioned, making the former thief double click and zoom in on the picture, but the prince was absolutely right.

There was less space on the second tier and it looked like Dee had gone for a small representation of the Talking Flowerbed by including some beautifully crafted icing flowers with smiling faces for one side of the cake. On the other side was a playing card that had a perfect copy of the red double scythe jester insignia that Joker always had pinned to his chest in Wonderland.

"This is insane, how'd she get it so perfect? I didn't even know she'd taken that much notice of it." Joker's voice was barely above a whisper as he traced the familiar pattern on the screen.

Finally, on the top of the cake, there was dormouse curled up and sleeping with his head on a white pillow. It's fur was light grey, the same colour as Ash's hair. As with Sakuto's rabbit, Dee had used slightly darker and lighter icing to really bring the dormouse to life, it looked like he might wake up and open his eyes at any minute. Mad glanced at his best friend and saw Ash's eyes were misty, he was visibly moved by this touching tribute… they all were.

:: Guys? Are you still there? :: None of them had replied since she posted the pictures, so Dee had eventually put in another message. Ash started typing away first.

:: Dee, this contest… can we come along? :: He asked her.

:: You really want to? It's open to the public so yes! It'll be nice to have my own cheering squad there for once, thanks! ::

The next few messages were a jumble of all of them gushing over how brilliant the cake was. Mad seemed to run out of adjectives and reverted to emojis and exclamation marks.

:: Aww! You guys are the best! Though I should really be thanking you, you were the inspiration behind the design after all… Well, I *suppose* I could do with some help getting through this massive cake seeing as it's too big for my fridge, if anyone's interested? :: Joker was the one to answer that question.

:: We'll be there in five ::

A little later and all of them were in Dee's flat eating the cake. Mad had been interested in the competition Dee was entering and she'd been explaining that each contest usually had a brief. That brief set the rules like what the minimum and maximum size of the cake should be, whether there was a set theme, what kind of design elements were allowed and what the judging criteria was.

"In some contests the entries are judged on taste and appearance. This one is decided purely on decoration, though all the contestants and spectators get to eat the cakes at the end so it's still usually a good idea to make it tasty too." Dee finished her explanation to an enrapt Mad who had been hanging on her every word.

"Definitely don't need to worry on the taste point, Dee." Bill said as he helped himself to another slice. "Do you need us to come by and help you transport the cake to the competition on the day? Don't worry, we won't let Ash touch it." Due to the Mouse being permanently half asleep, he was very clumsy and often dropped things.

"No, I appreciate the offer but I only use a specialist cake transportation firm with insurance to do that." Dee answered with a firm shake of her head. "You guys can meet me at the venue."

"I imagine that sort of service is quite expensive. Why would you do that if you had friends willing to help for free?" Sakuto enquired, raising a curious eyebrow.

"Well let me put it this way. How would you feel if one of you dropped my cake before we got there? It can happen to anyone, not just Ash." There was a collective loss of colour from everyone's faces when she posed that question. "I rest my case."

"So, what's insurance?" Mad queried, having picked up on that word from Dee's previous remark.

"At its simplest it's something you buy to protect yourself against certain events. For example, the cake transport company I mentioned would have insurance against dropping clients' cakes. If that happened then they'd pay me money in compensation to make up for the fact I could no longer participate in the contest." Dee had lost count of the number of times she'd gone into 'teacher mode' since she'd met these guys. But she didn't mind at all, she loved how they always gave her their undivided attention.

"You can get life insurance that will pay out to your family if you die, car insurance that will pay out if you have an accident. There's loads and loads of different types, it's more complicated than I'm making it sound but that's the gist." She wrapped up her description before they could get too bogged down in the details.

Sakuto nodded thoughtfully while Bill handed him a slice of cake with the rabbit decoration on it, everyone had insisted on eating their own representations _'How I managed to keep from mentioning cannibalism, I'll never know.' _Dee had been left with the icing flowers and she had to hold back from stabbing them spitefully with her fork.

"Oh yeah! I heard a phrase today that I didn't understand…" Bill mentioned as he opened a can of energy drink. "What does 'on the pull' mean?" That surprised a laugh out of Dee and she nearly choked on her cake. She covered her mouth with her hand to stop from spitting it out everywhere.

"I'm not sure I want to know how you came to hear that term, Bill." Her tone was equal parts teasing and amusement. "It's slang for going on a night out in the hopes of meeting a new date/significant other/one-night stand, delete as applicable."

"What do people do on a night out?" Mad questioned her as he summoned more tea for himself. Dee thought to herself to figure out the easiest way to explain it properly.

"Usually a group of friends will get dressed up nicely then go out in the evening to a bar or a club to have a good time. There's usually a dancefloor or something with music and it's a good chance to meet new people or just have fun with your mates. Most often it goes on late into the night or early hours of the morning." That was a pretty colourless way to define it but it was best to keep things simple with the Wonderland boys.

"Is it something dating couples do too? Maybe we should all go on a night out sometime then?" Sakuto suggested, looking interested in the idea. "I do feel we should take advantage of being in the Alice world to experience as much of the culture as possible."

"Eh… I'm not dead set against taking you all to a club if you really want me to, but as a lone girl heading out with five guys it's not gonna be very fun for me." Dee's face and tone betrayed her complete lack of enthusiasm as she tried to gently put the dampeners on things, she didn't want to do this if she could avoid it. "You five will probably be mobbed by girls trying to get your attention and I'll be left kicking my heels on my own."

"You don't have to be so dismissive of the idea, Dee…" Joker muttered gruffly with a disbelieving shake of his head, "It's almost like you've forgotten that you've got the threat of a death sentence hanging over your head." That comment made her shoulders droop and she looked down at her plate.

"I know that, I don't need you to remind me." Dee replied softly as she tried to brush the topic aside by putting down her plate and heading to the fridge to get herself a drink. Bill grabbed her wrist to stop her and make her look at him.

"Doesn't look like it to us." The five of them had had more than a couple of anxious late night conversations about the lack of progress lately. "Sometimes it really seems like you're not taking things seriously, like you're purposefully closing your eyes to reality."

"Let go of my wrist, Bill." Dee's voice held a touch of warning. The carpenter shook his head to say 'No' and a tense atmosphere descended on the room as the pair of them had a staring contest. Eventually it was Dee who broke the silence. "I'm not running away from the situation, I'm perfectly aware that I only have a limited amount of time."

"Then why don't you act like it?!" Surprising everyone, Ash's angry voice cut in with none of the usual lazy edge. "Where's your sense of urgency? You are just ambling about! Doing this, that and the other. If you don't have a 'Heart' to give to the Red Queen in just over three weeks' time then you'll be dead! DEAD and gone, do you even understand that?!"

"I SAID I know god dammit!" Dee shouted in a show of temper, finally tugging her wrist free from Bill's grasp. "You can't even imagine the amount of pressure I am under right now! It's about all I can do to keep my mind occupied so I don't end up sitting in a corner crying in terror."

"We're just worried, none of us wants you to die." Sakuto explained, trying to diplomatically diffuse the heated situation. Dee folded her arms across her chest with a shake of her head.

"And I appreciate that, I really do! But I'm never going to fall in love if I feel like there's a gun pressed against the back of my head." Dee's statement was met with blank stares and she made a noise of frustration. "For Heaven's sake! Fine, I'll rephrase that. I'm never going to fall in love if I feel like there's a knife at my throat."

"So, you've been trying to distract yourself, so your fear of the consequences doesn't ruin your chances before you even start." Mad was looking at Dee sadly. He'd once said to her that he didn't understand anything about love but he seemed to have more of a grasp on the subject than he'd let on. In fact, Dee was of the opinion that Mad was a lot smarter (and deeper) than he pretended to be. The fact he kept a sword blade hidden in his cane just reinforced that.

"Yes, that's exactly right. I'm grateful for your concern but may I remind you that you are not responsible for my life? I'll live and die by my own choices." She ran her hand through her hair in a gesture that conveyed her extreme discomfort at the conversation they were having.

"Dee…" Ash approached her and took a hold of both of her shoulders and looked her right in the eyes. "I am the sole survivor of the Mouse clan of Santorina… we were all warriors but the troops of Gentiana greatly outnumbered us and my country was destroyed and my people were wiped out. I just want you to understand, I don't want to see anyone else die… it's too hard on the ones left behind." Dee's eyes widened at Ash's tragic story. _'That's so horrible that I can't even begin to imagine how he feels.'_

"I-it's not like I haven't been trying! I really like all of you but I know next to nothing about love, the only thing I'm certain of is that you can't force it!" Dee defended herself as she looked down to avoid Ash's intense stare, trying her best to not start panicking.

"Well you'd best become an expert pretty quick." Joker mumbled moodily as he shoved his hands in his pockets again. "The clock's ticking and the pressure is only going to get worse from here on out." Dee found herself getting irritated again at his provocative tone and words. So she broke out of Ash's hold and announced.

"By all means, anyone in this room who has fallen in love before who can give me some tips on how to fall in love quickly would be most welcome to do so." Her words were laced with heavy sarcasm, a beat passed and none of the others spoke. "Just as I thought, it's all well and good telling me I should be doing more to make a 'Heart' but if you don't have any suggestions then you are just wasting your breath and my time… and with that, I'd like you all to leave now." There was an audible gasp from Sakuto but Joker and Ash were quick to turn tail and leave, followed by the prince and Bill a moment later. However, Mad stayed put and stared at Dee.

"We didn't mean to upset you, we're just wo-" He started to say before she put up a hand to stop him and shook her head.

"I don't want to hear it right now, Mad, just… leave me alone for now, please." Dee pleaded with him. Mad's normally bright and cheerful face was looking sad and gloomy, but he left the flat like he was asked.

Once she was certain that everyone had gone, Dee went and threw herself into her bed. She curled up around a pillow and hid her face in it while tears of fear sprung forth. She had been suppressing these emotions ever since the start of this crazy adventure _'I can't lose myself to the 'what ifs' I just need to think positive and hope for the best.'_ Eventually her tears stopped, leaving her drained and she felt herself getting sleepy. She had a feeling of dread in her stomach as she wondered what lay in store for her in Wonderland tonight?

* * *

When she next opened her eyes, she was at the edge of a forest.

"Oh, it's the Wandering Woods." She said to herself. It was a magic forest that changed shape constantly until travellers were hopelessly lost. Dee turned around, about to walk away but she stopped before she took a step _'I really don't want to see any of them right now.'_ She was still angry and also more than a little embarrassed by her behaviour. She wanted to take some time to calm herself down.

It was then Dee spotted a large hollow at the base of a nearby big tree; she crawled into it and was surprised there was so much space. Two people could fit in there without too much difficulty _'Perfect, hopefully no one will find me for a while.'_ She leant back against the walls of the hollow with her eyes closed and tried to empty her mind by listening to the sounds of the forest around her. It was then she became aware of footsteps heading her way.

"What are you doing in there, Alice?" Dee opened her eyes to see Cheshire Cat crouched down by her hollow, his tone was mocking, implying he already knew the answer to his question.

"Hiding. I should have known there's nowhere to hide in Wonderland." She replied with a sigh. "Though I'll admit, you were the last person I expected to come find me. What do you want?" There was a touch more venom in her voice than she'd intended.

"You wound me with your tone, Alice!" Cheshire Cat declared with a sarcastic cackle. The man crawled into the hollow uninvited and sat opposite her. "Word around Wonderland is that you're having a hard time falling in love. I find that difficult to believe when Sakuto is one of your options. I thought a kind and handsome prince that lives in a beautiful castle was the epitome of all girls' romantic dreams?"

"You must have a pretty low opinion of women if you truly believe our desires are that shallow." Dee's response made him pause briefly but she had looked away from him and didn't notice. She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "Prince Sakuto is too good to be true. It makes me feel uneasy; no one is that nice or that selfless."

"…I have to ask what happened to you to make it so you can't trust someone's genuine kindness?" His tone had lost the mock polite sarcastic edge it had had before.

"It's really not an exciting story but I guess I'll tell you anyway. My family has always been well off, so when my parents both died, I inherited it all. I'll never need to work a day in my life if I don't want to." She glanced at Cheshire Cat and could read his shock even under the hood. "Surprised? …Yeah, I don't really like people knowing I have money so I live as modestly as I can. I learnt that lesson the hard way, I've had countless people try to get close to me so they can get their hands on my bank balance. It left some pretty deep psychological scars. Now whenever anyone is nice to me, I can't help but immediately question their motives."

"But you're nice, Alice, all I've heard from the others is how sweet and lovely you are." Cheshire Cat told her, feeling the need to try and console her. Dee let out a bitter laugh at that.

"I'm going to be beheaded at the end of this month, I've got no choice but to try and get along with the guys to prevent that from happening. I'm not actually that nice either, I'm just terrified of dying. So my reasons are hardly pristine either." Her tone was disgusted with herself. "Even Prince Sakuto doesn't want to help me for me. He just wants to save my life because he can't deal with unnecessary death. It wouldn't matter to him if it was me or one of a dozen other 'Alices', he'd be trying to save them all in exactly the same way. It doesn't exactly make a girl feel special."

"Alice, I…" Cheshire Cat was lost for words. When he had been looking in the Alice world for someone to set his plan into action, he'd chosen a pretty young woman who had a smile on her face and seemed to be in love with life. He'd never imagined there'd be this much hurt and cynicism hiding under the surface.

"I'm just so sick of secret agendas! If you want something from a person you should just be upfront about it! Is that so hard?" Dee turned her eyes to him. "Like you! You're the whole reason I'm here in the first place! You need me to make a 'Heart' so you can fulfil your goals, right? Don't I have a right to know why you've put my life in danger?" Cheshire Cat almost winced under her accusatory tone. He hesitated for a moment before he reached up and pulled back his hood and removed his smiling face scarf.

Dee's eyes widened as she got her first good look at his face. He was a young man with shoulder length purple hair and skin as white as ivory.

"I suppose it's only fair that I tell you, seeing as it wasn't your choice to become involved. Firstly though, you have to keep this between us." His natural voice had lost the sarcasm and even sounded elegant. When Dee nodded, he continued. "My name is Noir and I'm the Black Prince of Gentiana."

"Gentiana? The country keeps attacking other countries and destroyed Santorina?" Dee queried; she hadn't even known that Gentiana had a prince. Noir closed his eyes with a solemn nod.

"Santorina was the last straw for me… but I'm getting ahead of myself." Noir turned to look out the mouth of the hollow, it had started raining. "Growing up I had two best friends; Sakuto: White Prince of Gardenia and Ruber: Red Princess of Protea. The fact we were all from different countries didn't matter one bit to us, we just wanted to have fun and play with each other. But one day, Ruber's mother died and she had to ascend to the throne even though she was still just a child. That's when her obsession with 'Hearts' started."

"Ruber… so that's the current Red Queen?" Dee asked and Noir nodded in confirmation. "What was she like as a child?" She found it hard to even picture it.

"She always had a fierce temper on her, but she was also a very sweet and warm kid when she wanted to be. She scared easily back then too, I guess I always thought of her as a little sister really. That's why I want to save her; both from the power of 'Hearts' and from my father." Noir's purple eyes had a strong determination to them as he spoke. "Awakening Crystals contain powerful magic. Ruber's always been a strong mage, so she can actually see a person's 'Heart' in their chest. She was in awe and became fascinated by their beauty and power. Before long she was like an addict, all she cares about is getting more of them. But as she began collecting more and more Crystals, her magical ability became stronger and stronger until my father, the Black King, started to view her as a threat to his plan to rule Wonderland… So, he began plotting to kill her." Dee covered her mouth with her hand in horror as she gasped.

"How awful! …So, you decided to try and do something to stop that from happening?" Dee had uncurled herself and was now sitting crossed legged in front of him.

"That's right, I left Gentiana, and after a spell in hiding, I took on the alias Cheshire Cat. Then I had to take some time to establish my new persona before I could plan and make my move. My first aim is to try and make Ruber see sense and stop stealing 'Hearts'. I thought if she could watch someone make a 'Heart' from start to finish, then she'd realise that she shouldn't be taking those feelings away from people." The love and affection that Noir had for his childhood friend was as obvious as it was sincere.

"Things are starting to make sense. So, you're the one who stole the Queen's 'Heart'? So you could frame me? Then you could come in with your suggestion that I make a replacement?" Dee questioned him thoughtfully as she started connecting the dots in her head.

"Yes, but the jewel you broke was a replica, I returned the 'Heart' I stole to its owner in secret. And if you're wondering why I went out of my way to use an 'Alice' rather than just a woman from Wonderland, that's because an 'Alice's Heart' is more powerful than any other 'Heart'. I knew there was no way Ruber would turn down my idea, the prospect of getting her hands on an 'Alice's Heart' would be way too exciting for her." Dee was seeing Noir in a new light; she could have never imagined how pure his intentions were when she first got dragged into this mess.

"Thanks for telling me that. That agenda is so noble that I can't even pretend to be angry about it… Can I ask you just one favour though?" Dee asked hesitantly, Noir nodded at her. "Could you please call me 'Dee' once in a while? I know you are probably calling me 'Alice' to dehumanise me so you don't feel so bad for using me for your own ends… But the fact remains that you *are* using me; you need to take ownership of that and not run away from it." He gasped as he stared at her in wide eyed shock for a moment before he came back to his senses.

"You're absolutely right… I've done a terrible thing to you, Dee, and I need to face up to that." Noir put his scarf back on and pulled up his hood. It had stopped raining so he crawled out of the hollow and helped Dee out and on to her feet. "Let me teleport you somewhere, anywhere you want… as a thank you for the heart-to-heart."

"Oh really? Well in that case, can you teleport me to the twins? If their smiling faces can't make me feel better then nothing can." She stated as she dusted the moss off her jeans.

"Alright, done." Noir said as he drew a magic circle with his hand. "Oh, and Dee? Don't worry if you can't make a 'Heart'. I won't let Ruber kill you, I'll work something out." She gave him a thankful smile and replied in a teasing tone.

"Careful there, Cheshire Cat, you almost sound sincere."

* * *

Dee woke up with a start when someone suddenly jumped onto her bed.

"What the-?" She sat up in shock and came face to face with Humpty grinning broadly at her from where he was sitting on her stomach.

"Hi Dee! So, this is the Alice world?! It's so cool! Can we go outside? Pretty please?!" Dee thought she must still be dreaming so she rubbed her eyes but, nope, Humpty was still there.

"Hey Dee, what does this thing do? It looks like a crab claw." Dumpty was stood near her dressing table and was clacking her hair straighteners, luckily though she didn't keep them plugged in.

"Ack, no! Dumpty, that's not a toy!" Dee tucked Humpty under her arm so she could get out of bed without knocking him to the floor. "How on Earth did you two get here?" She questioned them as she took the straighteners out of Dumpty's hand.

"We wanted to go to the Alice world with you so we grabbed on to you when you started to disappear, didn't we?" Humpty explained when she put him down and the pair of them beamed up at her proudly. Yesterday after her conversation with Cheshire Cat, he'd teleported Dee to where the twins were. That so happened to be a flower meadow in Protea with thankfully non-talking flowers.

The three of them had had fun playing games with each other until eventually Dee had decided to teach them how to braid picked flowers into bracelets and wreathes. It hadn't been long before her sadness and fear had all but vanished as she caught some of the twins' infectious enthusiasm for life. She even found out that they had a pet griffon and Joker had saved it's life once and that was how they had first met. Now the pair of them followed him around Wonderland like faithful puppies, whether Joker liked it or not.

Coming back to the present, Dee decided there was nothing she could do about the situation right now so she cut some slices from the left-over cake in the kitchen and put it in front of the eight year olds. She took a picture of the pair of them eating cake for breakfast at her table and put it into the group with the caption.

:: Somehow these two stowed away with me last night. I was thinking of taking them out to the park but I'm gonna need at least one extra pair of eyes. Any brave volunteers? :: She hoped that by acting normally, the guys would forget the fact that she threw them out of her flat yesterday.

Dee put her phone down and quickly went to pull on some clothes before coming back out into the living room. The twins finished their breakfast and were talking animatedly about how good it was when the doorbell rang and made them both jump out of their skin.

"W-what was that sound?" Dumpty stammered as he automatically clung on to his brother.

"Relax, it's called a 'doorbell' it tells me when someone has come to visit." Dee explained to soothe them as she opened her front door to reveal Joker and Bill.

"Big brother!" The twins cried out in delight as they rushed over and clamped onto Joker's arms.

"Don't you 'big brother' me, you little punks! I told you that you couldn't come to the Alice world but you just turned around and did it anyway, didn't you?" Joker was scolding them roughly but Dee knew him well enough to say he was doing it out of concern for their safety.

"Don't be too hard on them, I'm sure me telling them all about my world last night just made them curious." Dee defended them as she took the opportunity to brush and tie her hair back seeing as they were heading out.

"Grr, fine, if you say so." Joker muttered before prising Humpty and Dumpty off of him so he could talk to them properly. "Right, listen up. We're going out to a park but you have to do everything me, Dee and Bill tell you to or we'll turn around and come right back home, got it?"

"Got it!" The pair said in unison and Joker gave them a small smile and the five of them headed out of the building. Once they got out on to the street Bill fell into step besides Dee.

"Hey, you alright? We were worried when we didn't see you in Wonderland last night." He asked in a low voice, though his discretion wasn't needed as Humpty and Dumpty were pointing at everything in sight and asking loud questions, Joker already looked beyond exasperated.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just needed some time to clear my head. I'm ok now." Dee replied to him, making sure to give Bill one of her warm smiles so he wouldn't worry. He smiled back at her with a nod, looking relieved.

When they got to the park, they took the twins over to the playground equipment and let them run riot. It didn't take them long to figure out how to use the swings and slide although Joker and Bill had had to demonstrate how the seesaw worked, Dee had managed to take a sneaky picture for future blackmail purposes.

It wasn't long before the kids had worked up a sweat, their blonde fringes sticking to their foreheads. Dee had gone over to a nearby ice cream cart and bought them an ice cream lolly each to cool them off a bit.

"Come here if you want ice cream!" She called out, laughing out loud when Bill raced over along with Humpty and Dumpty.

"Aww, that's not fair." The former thief said looking genuinely disappointed when Dee handed the twins their lollies.

"Alright, fine, how can I say no to that face?" She asked rhetorically as she turned back to the ice cream vendor and bought another one, handing it to Bill. "There you go, you man-child." Dee watched as Joker sat himself down on the grass and pulled Humpty and Dumpty down with him so they could eat their ice lollies and rest for a few minutes.

"Didn't you want any ice cream, Dee?" Bill enquired as he realised that she'd only bought herself a soft drink to cool off with.

"Nah, thanks to a certain group of unknown men, I've been eating waaaaaay too much cake and sugar lately so I need to cut back on the calories." The pair of them walked over to an empty bench and sat next to each other. She opened the bottle and offered it to Bill first but he shook his head.

"I don't know about anyone else, but I like a girl who enjoys her food, there's no such thing as too much in my book!" Bill stated as he took a big bite of his ice cream and Dee took a swig of her drink.

"Haha, let's see if you still say that when I've gone up a few dress sizes." She chuckled with a disbelieving shake of her head.

"It wouldn't matter to me what size you were; you'd still be the same lovely Dee to me!" Bill told her with a big friendly grin, there was no sign whatsoever on his face that he was being anything other than totally serious.

"O-oh really? That's nice to hear, thank you." Dee stuttered, her cheeks growing red at the rather straightforward and direct compliment. She tried to cover her embarrassment by glancing over to see what the kids were up to. The twins had finished their lollies and were getting Joker to spin them on the roundabout.

"Hey, Dumpty! Hold on properly so you don't fall off and crack your head open!" Joker's voice floated over to them. "And this is plenty fast enough, Humpty, so stop shouting 'Faster' at me!"

"Joker's such a big softie, it's almost funny how much he tries to hide that fact." Dee commented with a fond smile as she watched them.

"Yeah, he's a really great guy, I just wished the rest of Wonderland could see it and not get hung up on his name." Bill agreed with a frustrated edge to his voice.

"Me too, but none of them want to listen to what an 'Alice' has to say either." Dee added with a soft sigh before she glanced at Bill. "But I feel better knowing he has you guys to back him up." Suddenly there was a warm hand squeezing her forearm.

"Hey, why are you talking like you're not a part of the team?" Bill admonished her with a slightly annoyed frown. "We're all right behind you too, you know?" Dee gave him a gentle smile.

"Yeah, I know… and thanks."

In the end, the five of them spent the whole day in the park, feeding ducks, playing catch, throwing frisbees and wrestling in the grass. Humpty and Dumpty were so exhausted that they were falling asleep standing up.

"Right, looks like I'd best get these two to bed." Joker declared with a small smile as he picked one up in each arm, both of them dozing off with their heads on his shoulders almost instantly. "Hey, where'd Bill go?"

"Very good question, I don't know." Dee replied as she looked around. She took out her phone to call him but it rang out. "Tell you what, I'll go look for him. You start taking the kids back to your place and we'll catch up to you." Joker nodded and Dee turned away from him to start searching.

Evening had fallen and there were less people in the park, Dee had searched everywhere but still couldn't find Bill. She decided to check out around the trees behind the lake before she finally called it quits.

"I haven't been ignoring your calls, I've just been busy is all... Yes, your Majesty, I know we had a deal." Dee heard Bill's voice and froze; his tone was polite but very cold. "If you must know, things seem to be going nicely for now." Dee crept forward carefully and peered around a tree. Bill had his back to her and was talking to someone on his phone, but there was something odd about the scene in front of her.

The phone had a shimmering aura around it, almost like faerie dust. _'Magic? Why would he need to use magic to speak to someone? … Unless he's talking to someone from Wonderland, maybe?'_ An unwelcome but very plausible explanation for Bill's secret magic phone call was forming in her head, especially as he referred to the person as 'Your Majesty'.

Bill finished the conversation and ended the call with a noise of disgust. When he turned around, his eyes locked with Dee's and he jumped backwards in shock.

"Whoa! Dee?!" He shouted, feeling himself break out into a cold sweat. "…Ahaha, you scared me! How long have you been there?" He laughed nervously as he tried to pretend everything was normal. Dee was having none of it though, she stepped out fully from behind the tree and glared at him with her arms crossed.

"Tell me what deal you made with the Red Queen and why?" Her tone was clipped and angry, telling Bill that this wasn't a request and there was no getting out of it. He hung his head in shame and couldn't bring himself to look at her.

"Protea's been meddling around in Gardenia's business, trying to cause problems between them and Alchemilla and it's giving Sakuto a real headache that he doesn't need right now." Bill's voice was low as he chewed on his lip. "So, I went to the Red Queen to protest about it and she offered me a deal. If I was the one that helped you make a 'Heart' she'd keep out of Gardenia's business for good… And it wasn't even an empty promise, she made a binding magical covenant and everything! …So, I accepted her terms."

"When was this?" Dee kept her sentences short so Bill wouldn't hear how choked up she was right now. She knew it couldn't have been before her trial so it would have had to have been after.

"The day after we first met." Bill summoned his courage and finally looked up. Dee's eyes were shining with the tears she was holding back and he panicked. "Look, that doesn't mean that everything up to now has been a lie or anything! I promise you that!" Dee shook her head with a disbelieving noise of scorn.

"It's really hard to believe that's true right now, Bill. I understand that you had an admirable goal in mind, hell, you probably convinced yourself it was a 'win-win' situation. You save Gardenia and my life at the same time, great!" She swallowed hard as her face crumpled up. "But still, this… *stings* so much and even worse, you've betrayed Prince Sakuto too. There's no way he'd have wanted you to make such a deal with the Red Queen for his sake and you know it."

"I do know it; I wish I'd never agreed to it. You have no idea how sorry I am, you have to believe that at least." Bill told her; his voice tight like he was holding back his own tears. Dee nodded slowly to show that she did _'Everyone is always so sorry when they're caught.'_ She turned away from him and walked away quickly, hugging her arms tightly around herself.

Bill watched her go for a moment before he heard a twig snap behind him and he whirled around to see Joker standing there with his arms folded and a sour look on his face. He'd got the twins back to their apartment and had come back out to look for them.

"It's not like any of us knew her beforehand… it shouldn't be so surprising that some of us had our own reasons for getting involved!" Bill blurted out as he rubbed his eyes with his hand to try and erase his tears. Joker just stared at him for a beat or two before saying,

"Yeah, thinking that didn't make me feel any better either... Come on, let's take the long way home."

* * *

Some days later Dee woke up in Wonderland but it was a place she'd never been before. There were ruined buildings and rubble all around her as she got herself to her feet.

"Where am I? …And what the hell happened here?" Dee asked out loud as she looked around, a breeze blew through stirring up the dust from the crumbling masonry. She covered her mouth with her hand, coughing as she narrowed her eyes to protect them. _'Well what do I do now? I don't even know in which direction I should start walking.'_

Dee gasped as she heard voices and she dived through the ruined doorway of a nearby building to hide. She pressed herself flat against the wall and closed her eyes as she strained to hear what the voices were saying.

"I hate the Santorina patrol! It's so boring, no one's stupid enough to come to this dust bowl!" A low gruff voice complained. _'This is Santorina? Ash's home country that Gentiana destroyed?' _The voices drew closer until Dee could hear the clinking of their armour as they walked past her hiding place.

"Quit your whining! An easy patrol now and then ain't a bad thing." The second knight growled out in answer.

"Says you, Gramps!" The younger man retorted, followed by a sharp *clang*. Dee guessed the veteran had probably whacked the other. She carefully peered out and around the corner at their retreating backs. _'Black armour, definitely Gentiana's troops. I'm in trouble, I need to get out of here.'_

Dee decided to go in the opposite direction that the Knights were heading, keeping close to the walls of buildings so she could hide quickly if needs be. It was then that she noticed it was getting darker, apparently night falling was a relatively rare occurrence in Wonderland and this was one of those few occasions. The darkness was both a blessing and a curse right now. It made it easier to hide but it was even harder to work out where she was going.

After what felt like hours of wandering around, Dee stopped for a rest and sank down in the shadows between two buildings that had survived the worst of the destruction when the city fell. She was losing heart because she was tired, scared and didn't know where she was going. All of a sudden someone grabbed her from behind, clamping a hand over her mouth before she could scream.

"Be quiet! I mean you no harm." A female voice whispered into her ear. "Do you promise not to scream if I let you go?" Dee gave an exaggerated nod so the person would know she agreed. The woman let her go and Dee slowly turned around to face her. She was an older woman, probably middle aged but she looked like she could hold her own in a fight if it came to it. She was dressed in mostly handmade clothing and she was carrying a burlap sack.

"Who are you?" The woman questioned her. "I spotted you when I was scavenging. I've been watching you for a while now, you're heading further into Gentiana if you keep going in that direction." Dee's shoulders sank at hearing that.

"Oh, I didn't realise... I'm Dee, I'm not from Wonderland. Every night when I go to sleep in my world, I wake up somewhere in Wonderland and I can't control where I'm going to land." She spoke in a hushed whisper. The stranger gave her a sympathetic look, seemingly unconcerned about her not being a local.

"So, you're an 'Alice'? I thought as much. I'm Irena." It was at that point that Dee noticed Irena's hair; it was long and tied back but that's not what drew her interest. It was the colour; it was light grey just like Ash's. She'd noticed before that most Rabbits had blue/white hair like Sakuto and the same for Bill and the Lizards with their green hair.

"Are you a Mouse?" Dee enquired softly. When Irena nodded, she could hardly believe what she was seeing. "But Ash thought he was the only one left!" Now it was Irena's turn to open her eyes in shock.

"Ash is still alive?!" She exclaimed before covering her mouth and cautiously looking over her shoulder. "We can't talk here, come with me." Irena took a hold of Dee's hand and led her through the winding maze of broken buildings until they reached a carefully hidden trapdoor. The mouse woman knocked in a deliberate pattern and the door was unlocked from the inside. "It's alright, she's with me." Irena stated to pre-empt whatever the teenaged gatekeeper was going to say when he saw the pair of them.

Irena went down the ladder first while Dee followed her, she heard the trapdoor being closed behind them before a heavy bolt was drawn across it. It was pitch dark in this cellar; the only light in there was provided by a few candles. It took a while before Dee's eyes started to adjust and when they had, she realised there was a good ten or more people in the room. Most were teenaged or younger but there were a couple of adult women like Irena.

"Dee, over here. It's ok, don't be afraid." A voice called out to her and she saw Irena sitting at a makeshift crate table, having given her sack of scavenged items to another young woman. As Dee walked over, she wasn't sure if the instruction 'not to be afraid' was for her or the others huddled in the cellar. Once Dee had sat down opposite her, Irena slid a cup of water over to her and asked

"Now tell us about Ash, we thought all our soldiers had died when the country fell three years ago." The mention of Ash's name made a few of the children take notice and draw closer to them.

"Well I've only known him personally for about two weeks, but I'll tell you everything I know about what happened to him." Dee took a sip of the water to quench her dry throat before she continued "Ash was the last one standing during the final battle but the numbers were too great and, eventually he was defeated. He was very badly injured and lying at the side of the road in the rain. He probably would have died if Mad hadn't come along when he did."

"Mad? As in the Mad Hatter? What was he doing walking around Santorina just after a huge battle?" Irena was a clever woman, immediately focusing on the same detail that had intrigued Dee when she first heard this story.

"Well if he is to be believed, he was looking for tea leaves." Her tone showed just how much stock she put in that particular statement. But no matter how many times she asked, that was the story Mad stuck to like glue, forever playing dumb. "Anyway, Mad found Ash lying there and invited him to a tea party, saving his life in the process. Since then the two of them have been pretty much inseparable but Ash has spent all this time thinking he's the only Mouse left in Wonderland." Irena nodded slowly as she took this information in.

"I see, so that's how he survived, he was the strongest warrior in our clan so it shouldn't be surprising. Thank you, Dee, can you tell me how he's doing now?" The other Mice in the cellar had gradually come nearer until they were sitting in a circle around the two of them, listening intently.

"How he's doing?" Dee chewed her lip for a moment as she thought of how best to answer that question. "I find him a really sweet guy, if kinda clumsy though he does sleep almost all the time. I think it's the way he tries to cope with what happened to him… But he's going to be so happy when he finds out about you all! What happened? Are you hiding?" She changed the subject quickly so the Mice wouldn't worry too much.

"Yes, we're hiding. When this city became our final stronghold, there were a handful of people who rounded up all the children and anyone who couldn't fight and hid away while our warriors held off the invaders. By the time we felt brave enough to go back outside, the war was over and everything was in ruins. We've been trying to survive in secret ever since." Irena explained to the girl as she drank some more of her water.

"Why haven't you left Santorina and crossed over into Gardenia? You'd be safe there and you wouldn't need to struggle so much." Dee asked her as someone kindly refilled her cup.

"There's close to fifty of us spread out over half a dozen cellars like this one and the vast majority are children. It would be impossible to get all of us across the border before Gentiana noticed us." Irena said as she sadly shook her head, looking over the faces of the people she was trying to protect. She was surprised when Dee reached over the table and squeezed her forearm.

"Well things have changed; you've got people on the outside now." Dee was smiling at her. "I'm certain Ash and I can come up with a plan to smuggle you all out of here. I even know a few others that I'm sure will be willing to lend a hand." Irena was stunned for a moment.

"Are you serious? Aren't you afraid of Gentiana?" The mouse couldn't believe a perfect stranger was offering to help them.

"Recently I've realised that I can't let fear stop me anymore. I don't care about the danger; I want to help you." Dee was sincere as she looked at the Mouse with an unwavering gaze.

"Al-alright then, if you're that determined. We'll trust you. First things first, we need to get you out of here so you can tell Ash about us. He might not believe you." Irena reached up and unfastened an earring she was wearing and handed it over to Dee. It looked like it had been handmade with colourful beads. "That should convince him. I'll take you as far as the enchanted Chessboard, the fact it's night time now is going to work in our favour, Mice have exceptional night vision, after all."

* * *

It took some time but Irena led Dee all the way to the border between Gentiana and Gardenia where the Chess battles took place regularly. Sakuto had explained them to Dee once before but all she could remember about them right now was that a magician had cast a spell on the board so that when a piece was disarmed, they could no longer move. Once either Chess King was disarmed, that was the end of the current battle. The idea being to decide the outcome without loss of life, though the Black Chess troops were known to regularly go for someone's life rather than just trying to neutralise them.

She also knew that Gentiana had been pressing the border hard ever since it became known that Sakuto's father, the White King, had fallen quite ill some time back. It seemed the Black King saw Gardenia as an easy target right now, especially with Sakuto's preference to avoid any loss of life on either side of the war.

"Alright, this is as far as I go." Irena whispered as the pair crouched down in the bushes. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Dee, we'll be waiting for news on the evacuation. We're counting on you." The mouse woman had a gentle smile on her face and she gave Dee's hand a warm squeeze.

"I won't let you down, I promise… Will you be ok getting back?" She questioned, giving her a worried look.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Stay here for a few minutes before you show yourself, that will give me enough of a head start so they won't notice me." Irena told her with a reassuring look and Dee nodded to show she'd understood. She stayed put as Irena carefully crept away, waiting a reasonable amount of time before she got up and walked out the bush on Gardenia's side of the border.

"Miss Dee!" A Rabbit Knight spotted her immediately and came hopping over to her. "Where have you been? Prince Sakuto has been looking all over for you!" He looked horrified at the state of her clothes. She was covered in dust, grime and soil from sneaking around with Irena.

"He has? I'm so sorry, I woke up somewhere I didn't know and got a little lost. Is he at Chalk Castle?" Dee asked, intending to head there straight away to get cleaned up before finding Ash to tell him the fantastic news.

"Yes, I'll dispatch a messenger to let the prince know we found you and send a couple of knights with you to escort you there." The commander said, nodding at the nearest ones to come over before Dee could voice a protest. _'That's odd, I know the way to the castle from here so why do I need the armed guards?'_

It wasn't long before she got to Chalk Castle and a rabbit butler met them at the gate.

"I'm so pleased to see you're safe, Miss Dee. Normally I'd offer you the chance to freshen up but Prince Sakuto insisted that he wanted to see you as soon as you arrived, so please follow me." The butler bowed graciously before turning to lead her inside. Dee was incredibly confused by the way everyone was acting, had something happened while she was lost in Santorina?

The butler knocked on the door to a reception room and opened it for her. Dee walked in and was surprised to see all of the guys were there, not just Sakuto. They all seemed to be equally shocked by her unkempt and dishevelled appearance, no one said anything until the butler closed the door behind her with a *click*.

At that point all of them rushed towards her en masse, speaking over each other so she couldn't hear what was being said. Overwhelmed, she took a step back from where they were crowding around her and bumped into the back of door.

"W-what's gotten into you? One at a time, please! I have no idea what's going on, what happened?" She finally found her voice and that seemed to get through to the five of them as they stopped talking all at once and took a step back to give her some breathing space.

"My apologies, Dee, we were just so worried because we couldn't find you." Sakuto was the first to speak and his face conveyed genuine relief. "Are you ok? You're not hurt, are you?"

"What? No, as you can see, I'm filthy, but I'm fine. Why would I be hurt?" Dee queried as she tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"Looks like you haven't heard then. I don't know who started it but there's a sick rumour going around Wonderland right now." Joker grumbled as he put his hands in his pockets and avoided eye contact like he didn't want to be the one to tell her what it was.

"What rumour? It's about me then, I'm guessing?" Dee prompted as she looked from one to the other.

"Yes, it is." Mad's face was dark and serious, so much so that he looked like a completely different person right now. "The rumour is that if you drink the lifeblood of an 'Alice' it will grant that person immortality." Dee felt the colour draining out of her face when she heard that and a chill ran down the length of her spine.

"Yeah, so when none of us could find you we started to worry that one of the 'Alice' hunting parties had got you. We were all out searching for you until we got Sakuto's message that you'd been found." Bill's mouth was pressed into a thin line and his tone betrayed his disgust at what his fellow inhabitants of Wonderland were currently doing.

"'Alice' hunting…?" Dee repeated in a tiny voice. That was too much for her and she felt her knees give out from under her but someone caught her before she hit the floor. She looked up and saw Ash's amber eyes staring at her with concern.

"You're… exhausted." He stated, having noticed that fact. "Where… were you?" The question made Dee remember everything. All this talk of that grisly rumour had momentarily made her forget what she needed to tell Ash. She stood up straight again so the mouse warrior didn't need to support her anymore and took something out of her pocket.

"I was in Santorina." Dee held her hand out towards Ash and opened it to show the beaded earring in her palm. He stared at it in open mouthed shock before he took it from her so he could get a closer look at it.

"This… is my aunt's earring. I made it for her when I was a kid." There was a warble to Ash's voice as he looked up at Dee. "How did you get this?"

"Someone called Irena gave it to me to give to you, so you'd believe what I'm about to tell you." Dee stated. She took a hold of Ash's arm as he was now the one who looked like he was about to faint.

"Come sit down everyone and stop hovering around the door." Sakuto coaxed them gently and they headed to the lounge chairs. Dee made sure that she was sat next to Ash, he had the earring clutched in his hand and he was still visibly stunned. A tea set suddenly appeared on the table.

"Sweet tea. You've both had a big shock." Mad's face had lost the darkness it had before but he was still looking at both of them with concern. Dee poured a cup and handed it to Ash.

"I woke up in Santorina, but I didn't know that at the time. I kept having to hide from Black Knights and I must have been wandering around for hours in the wrong direction before Irena took pity on me and grabbed me." Dee could see Ash's hands were trembling as he held the tea cup. "I realised that she had to be of the Mouse clan and when I mentioned your name, she took me back to a cellar where there were more of them. She told me that around fifty people have been living in those ruins since the war ended."

"This is unbelievable, to think they were able to survive there for three whole years." Sakuto's voice was barely audible as everyone tried to absorb what they were being told.

"The reason they've not tried to leave before is that most of them are children. But I told them that we'd work out some way to get them all out of there." Dee put her hand in her pocket again and pulled out a piece of paper which she unfolded. "They gave me a rough map to show where the occupied cellars are. They've been expanding them and most are connected by tunnels. They also taught me the special knock you have to do on the trapdoors to get inside." Mad took the map from Dee's hand so he could study it.

"After all that, Irena helped me get to the border of Gentiana before she headed back to wait for word on the rescue plan. Do you think we can get them out safely?" Dee added, looking hopefully at the magician.

"Of course, we can!" Mad declared loudly with his brilliant smile. "I'm sure between all of us we can smuggle them out right under the Black King's nose." Dee glanced around and saw Joker, Bill and Sakuto nod in agreement. It seemed like they were fully intending to help out in any way they could.

"Ash?" Dee asked softly as she looked at him, he still hadn't said anything yet. The Mouse stirred a little at hearing his name before deliberately putting his tea cup down on the table. Then he suddenly threw his arms around Dee and squeezed her tightly. "Whoa, Ash?!" She exclaimed, panicking as she was still all grimy and dirty.

"Thank you." Ash didn't seem to care about that as he hugged her. "Thank you… so much." The emotions conveyed in just those few words were enough to bring tears to her eyes.

"D-don't thank me, I didn't do anything special except get lost." Dee stammered as she sniffled, trying to regain her composure. Ash shook his head but didn't say anything else, letting her go. The others were all grinning at them but, after giving the two a moment, Bill sighed.

"I hate to bring the mood down but something is still worrying me. Dee can't control where she ends up when she comes to Wonderland." Bill chewed on his lip in concern. "Before it wasn't a big issue where she landed but now, she's ended up in Gentiana once and what with the rumour too… There are only a few places here that are truly safe for her now."

"Yes, I've already decreed to my people that no one is to harm her. While I'd like to think everyone in Gardenia would abide by that, it's not guaranteed that no one will try anything. Also, I have no jurisdiction over citizens of other countries." Sakuto agreed and a thoughtful silence fell over them as they tried to come up with a plan.

"Looks like the Cheshire Cat is needed to save the day, once again!" The arrogant voice from the corner of the room made everyone jump.

"Where the hell did you appear from?!" Joker growled at Cheshire Cat, not liking that he'd managed to surprise him. Cheshire Cat ignored the question as he crossed the room to stand in front of Dee. He snapped his fingers and a necklace appeared in his hand that he dangled in front of her face.

"May I just start by saying the dragged through a bush look really suits you, Alice. I have a present for you… wear this talisman to bed and you'll be guaranteed to enter Wonderland wherever one these lovely gentlemen happen to be at the time." He was speaking in that mocking tone again, but it didn't bother Dee at all now she knew it was a persona. Also, knowing what he was trying to achieve behind the scenes certainly had a hand in her tolerance too. The necklace was a simple leather cord with an unpainted wooden carving of a woman hanging from it.

"Is this meant to be me?" Dee desperately tried to hide the amusement in her voice as she stood up and took the talisman from Cheshire Cat to get a better look.

"But of course! The likeness is striking, don't you agree?" Cheshire Cat was wearing the scarf over his face but Dee could just imagine Noir's grin right now.

"Cheshire Cat, this isn't a trick, is it?" Mad fixed him with a piercing gaze, his tone saying he wasn't messing around. However, it wasn't the Cheshire Cat that answered, it was Dee's voice that rang out as she put the talisman around her neck.

"Sorry, Mad, this isn't your decision, it's mine and I'm going to trust him."

* * *

Dee was in the event hall of the hotel that was hosting the cake decorating competition. The last four days had been a bit of a blur for everyone. Through careful planning and a little luck, they'd managed to evacuate all the Mice from Santorina without Gentiana noticing the activity. For now, the survivors were staying in Chalk Castle to regain their health and strength. Unfortunately, most were suffering with malnutrition of one degree or another but Sakuto was confident they'd recover quickly with the right care.

The next task would be to find them somewhere to live but Bill had already extended a formal invitation on behalf of the Elders of the Lizard village for the Mice to come and settle down alongside his people. Everything seemed to be working out fine, and the best thing was that Ash wasn't alone anymore.

"This is insane! Look at all the amazing cakes!" Dee was making sure her cake was sitting centred on the rotating stand when she heard a familiar voice coming from somewhere behind her.

"Yes, yes, it's all very exciting, Mad, but let's find Dee first before you get distracted by the pretty colours."

"The King of Snark arrives, I see." Dee stated as she turned around at Joker's voice. She grinned as Sakuto, Bill, Joker and Mad walked over to her before she noticed. "No Ash?" She enquired, looking around to see if she could spot him.

"I left him in Wonderland this morning… but don't worry! I reminded him about the contest and he promised he'd be here!" Mad told her in a reassuring voice as Bill lent down to examine Dee's entry.

"Ooh, this is a bit different from the practise run!" He commented as Dee used the remote to turn the cake stand electronically so they could see it all. She'd replaced the Talking Flowers on the second tier with a dark and light purple diamond checkered cat with a maniacal grin who appeared to be watching the white rabbit at the base.

"Yeah, I decided that the Talking Flowers didn't really add anything to the design, so I went back to the drawing board for that section." Dee said by way of explanation.

"I'd imagine the fact the flowers have never been particularly kind to you probably helped with that decision." Sakuto commented with a wry little smile. "And that charm Cheshire Cat gave you *has* been working rather well."

"That's for sure, it's so nice to know that one of you is always going to be nearby when I go to sleep." Dee replied, the hall was starting to fill up with people. "Though being able to go in and out of Wonderland at will like you guys can would be handy too."

The competition was just about to start, there was usually an hour for viewing, then judging would start with results announced a half hour after they'd been around all the entries. Dee glanced at the time on her phone before looking anxiously towards the double doors. Suddenly Mad grabbed her left arm and Bill did the same with her right.

"Come on, Dee! Let's go look at the cakes over there!" The magician announced in a blatant attempt to distract her. "Joker and Sakuto will keep an eye on yours, don't worry!"

"Heh yeah, no one will dare try and sabotage things while I'm here, it's in safe hands." Joker added with a confident smile

"Well I suppose I could have a look at what I'm up against, I don't normally get a chance to do so seeing as I'm usually flying solo." Dee admitted, a smile coming to her face. "Alright! Let's do this! Thanks for taking care of the cake, you two!" She called before walking off with Mad and Bill. When they were out of earshot, Sakuto said in a low and worried voice.

"I do hope Ash hasn't forgotten, coming along was his idea in the first place." The White Prince turned to look at the cake that was on the stand next to Dee's in a bid to stop himself from fretting.

"Put it this way, if he doesn't show, I'm punching him in the face." Joker mumbled bluntly under his breath as he glanced at the time again.

Before long the viewing hour was up and the three judges had started making their final rounds. The cake's creator had to be with their entry for this part to answer any questions the judges might have. So, Dee was stood by her table while the Wonderland boys were huddled together while standing in the spectator area.

"He's not answering which probably means he's still in Wonderland." Bill said as he hung up and put his phone in his pocket with a sigh.

"Maybe one of us should go back and get him?" Sakuto offered. "He's probably still at the castle so I could probably do it." He was desperately trying to come up with a way to fix the situation.

"Then neither you or Ash will be here for her, which would be even worse." Mad shook his head unhappily. "This is so unlike him, he's normally so dependable and reliable."

"And Dee's probably just gonna keep pretending that she doesn't mind, like she always does." Joker clicked his tongue against his teeth in anger. "I'm gonna kill him. Mad, can I kill him please?"

"No, you can't…" The hatter replied seriously as his face darkened. "…Because I'm going to do much worse to him."

"Hey! I got some drinks for everyone." Dee suddenly appeared next to them with an armful of cola bottles, startling them. She was pretending that she hadn't noticed that Mad had his scary face on.

"Dee!" Bill exclaimed, recovering the quickest. "If you're here, then who's looking after your cake?" He took the bottle that she held out to him.

"Oh, the judges have already been to mine, they've taken their pictures and written down their thoughts. They'll refer to those when they're having their discussions later." Dee didn't ask about Ash again as she doled out the remaining bottles. "So, what that means is it doesn't matter if something happens to the cake now."

"The things that people can create from just icing is really impressive." Sakuto mentioned to change the subject and break the heavy atmosphere from their previous conversation.

"Tell me about it, but it just takes a little imagination, a steady hand and lots of practice. You should see some photos of my first attempt at cake decorating, it was dire!" Dee covered her face with one hand and she blushed lightly at the memory.

"Now I definitely want to see those, you owe me one for the seesaw picture." Joker said with an evil grin at seeing Dee's embarrassment. Bill and Mad were looking highly interested as well.

"I'm not getting out of this, am I?" Dee asked rhetorically. She sighed dramatically and pulled out her phone to show them. "Be warned, if you laugh at me too much, you're not getting any more sweet treats from me." Dee mock threatened as she handed her phone over to Joker.

Time passed by quickly as the five of them chatted and laughed over pictures of Dee's early attempts at cake decorating. The judges finished their final viewings without them noticing and it wasn't long before the judges were ready to announce the winners. Dee's cake took 3rd place and her cheering squad clapped and whistled loudly as she climbed on to the stage to receive her prize.

Then the competition was over and finally people were allowed to eat the cakes.

"Happy with coming third?" Bill queried to check and make sure Dee wasn't too disappointed with her placing.

"Definitely! Did you see the first and second place entries? The Jekyll and Hyde cake deserved to win, blew mine right out the water… In fact, I wanna try that one if I can…"

As she turned to head over to it, Ash came running into the hall looking like he'd sprinted the whole way there. He came to a stop and looked around frantically.

"Dee!" The Mouse spotted her and rushed over.

"Oh, there you are, Ash! Look I got third place!" Dee told him as she showed him her certificate proudly before casually asking. "Where were you?"

"I'm so sorry…" Ash didn't answer her question, not wanting to even offer an excuse. He couldn't believe he'd got distracted in Wonderland and forgotten about the competition. "What can I do to make it up to you? I'll do anything." Since finding the other Santorina survivors, Ash had stopped talking in that half asleep, stop/start way as often as he used to do.

"Don't be silly, you don't have to make it up to me." Dee replied with a shake of her head and as she turned away towards the winning cake she finished. "…It was only a cake contest after all." Ash bit down on his lip like that was what he'd expected her to say.

"… It wasn't just a cake contest though." He mumbled sadly as he watched her retreating back. "I wish she'd just yell at me or something." He added as Joker walked up behind him and gave him a not-so-gentle shove.

"Oh, don't you worry, we're gonna yell at you plenty in her place when we get back later."

* * *

"Dee! Over here!" Mad called out as Dee opened her eyes in Alchemilla. She got up and was immediately pounced on by Humpty and Dumpty.

"Dee! We missed you!" "Will you play with us, pretty please?" They said one after the other. Mad came walking over, laughing at the kids' enthusiasm.

"You have great timing, Dee! We were just about to head to the Annual Trade Festival!" Mad told her with his signature grin while she finally managed to prise the twins off so she could walk.

"Ooh, that does sound like fun. Is it full of all different stalls and shops then?" Dee asked as she let Humpty and Dumpty take a hand each and Mad began to lead the way.

"Yep, but there's also races, games, shows and some contests too. It attracts people from all over Wonderland, it's great!" The hatter informed her, confused when Dee deflated a bit after he said that.

"Oh really? Do you think I'll be ok if I go there if there's going to be that many people?" She enquired indirectly. She didn't want to say out loud that she was worried about going there as an 'Alice' because she didn't want to upset the twins_. 'I'm more concerned about 'Alice' Hunting but most people still treat me pretty horribly as well.'_ She was broken out of her thoughts by Mad's hand on her shoulder where he gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Don't you worry about a thing, Dee! You've got me with you, plus I know Ash and Bill are definitely going to be around today at least and probably Joker too. If something happens, just shout and someone will come running." Mad's green eyes were looking into hers and seemed to promise that everything would be fine.

Dee always found it hard to stay pessimistic in the face of Mad's giant smile so she nodded in response and continued walking with more confidence in her steps. The festival was being held in one of Alchemilla's great forests, all the stalls were set up in a huge clearing that had a crystal blue river running alongside it. They quickly lost Mad in the throngs of people but Humpty and Dumpty seemed unconcerned. They were chattering on excitedly about all the stalls they wanted to check out and they were insisting that Dee come along to all of them too.

But it wasn't long before she started to hear people whispering about her.

"Did you hear that the Green King issued a proclamation declaring that harming the 'Alice' would be considered an act of high treason?"

"That's ridiculous! She's not even from Wonderland, how can it be treason?" Dee didn't know much about the Green King of Alchemilla. She had been told that he didn't interfere much in the lives of his citizens, preferring to foster a 'free society' environment. Apparently, he didn't even have a castle. So, the fact he'd gone as far as issuing a proclamation for her protection was very out of character for him. All of a sudden, the hateful whispering ceased, and when Dee looked up, she realised why.

"Hiya, Bill!" Dumpty greeted him eagerly. "Have you got a toy stall at the festival again this year?" The Lizard ruffled his hair affectionately and smiled at him.

"You know it! Nerida's minding it for me right now because I've got my eye on first place at the archery contest!" Bill told the twins before locking eyes with Dee briefly to ask her if she was ok. Dee nodded minutely so the kids wouldn't notice.

"Wow! I wanna watch!" Humpty exclaimed. "Hey, Dee! Did you know that Bill's the best archer in the whole of Wonderland?"

"That's what he keeps telling me… still haven't seen him prove it yet though. He could be all talk for all I know." Dee playfully shrugged in answer. Her tone was teasing and she gave the carpenter a smile of open challenge.

"Oho, is that how it's gonna be? ...Right then! The gauntlet has been thrown!" Bill announced with a confident grin before striking a triumphant pose and gesturing dramatically. "To the field of honour!" Dee knew he was acting extra silly to cheer her up so she didn't even try to hide her laughter as she chased after him and the twins to the archery range that had been set up a short distance away from the stalls, for safety's sake.

Bill went over to put his name down to enter the contest, getting almost universal groans from all his fellow competitors.

"Sorry gang, but my reputation and pride as a man is on the line for this one!" Bill didn't sound like he was anywhere near sorry as he glanced back at Dee, making her shake her head again with a laugh. She spotted Joker at the edge of the crowd when she went to join the other spectators to watch the show. Humpty and Dumpty had taken up spots right at the front so they could see better while Dee walked over to Joker. The other denizens of Wonderland gave them both a wide berth.

"Unpopular kids club or what?" Joker commented with a half smile when she settled against the tree next to him. Dee snickered when she heard that before admitting.

"That was a surprisingly good one… Brofist." She held up her fist and Joker tapped his against it with a light chuckle. "Eh… being popular is overrated anyway." She said flippantly as she switched her focus back to the contest.

It looked like the format and aim of this archery competition was to score as many points as possible. There were a number of targets set out at different distances and at varying heights. There was one or two where there was a partial visual obstacle between the board and circle in which the competitors were to stand. The archers would only have enough arrows for one shot at each target, they'd score points depending on whether they hit the goal or not and for which circle the arrow struck. There were also bonus points awarded on a sliding scale depending on how fast the contestant completed all their shots.

Dee watched with admiration as the archers took turns at attempting the challenge, she could barely see some of the boards that were furthest away but these guys were hitting them without blinking. The obstructed targets were causing some difficulty, especially as the archers couldn't step outside the chalk circle or it was an immediate disqualification.

"There's a lot of Lizards participating." Dee mentioned when she counted up the number of competitors with green hair.

"Yeah, that's because the Lizard clan are best known for their hunting ability. They can climb up the highest tree and hit their prey with an arrow even in dense forests." Joker told her before looking more interested when Bill's turn came up, it seemed like they'd put him last so as not to discourage the other contestants.

As she watched her friend compete, Dee was completely spellbound. Bill fired arrows off at an almost impossible speed and what was more impressive was his accuracy. He hit every single target right in the centre. Even with the obstructed ones he removed just enough fletching before he fired his arrows so they curled around in flight and still ended up striking the bull's eye. It was all over in next to no time and Bill was named the undisputed winner.

The twins rejoined Dee and Joker while Bill and the runners up picked up their prizes. The carpenter came jogging over to them with his gold medal jangling around his neck.

"So, what have you got to say now, Dee?" Bill asked expectantly, posing with both hands on his hips and looking exceptionally pleased with himself. Dee just stared at him in new found respect before saying,

"You really are the best archer in the whole of Wonderland… and I'd say you're most likely the best archer in the whole of my world too." Her tone was one of complete sincerity and the compliment caught Bill off guard and caused him to blush slightly.

"Thank you, that's some high praise right there." The former thief coughed. "A-anyway! I'd best get back to Nerida or she'll kill me. Come by my stall later to see what I've got!" Bill told them in parting as he headed back towards the main body of the festival.

"Big brother! Dee! We're hungry! Let's go get some food!" Dumpty chimed in once Bill was gone, the pair of them clamping on to their arms trying to pull them towards the food stalls.

"Alright alright! We're coming, no need to drag us!" Joker mumbled sounding mildly irritated as they all headed off. About fifteen minutes later and the four of them were sitting down on the grass together. Dee was just finishing eating something that was pretty similar to a shish kebab when Humpty called out to her from where he was standing next to the river, looking for fish with his brother.

"Hey Dee! Come over here, there's a huge crab! Quick! Come see!" He shouted out excitedly. Dee shared a secret eyeroll with Joker but obediently got up to go and have a look. When she got to the river bank she couldn't help noticing that the river seemed very swollen and water was running faster than normal. _'We have had a lot of rain lately so that's probably the reason for it.'_ She thought to herself while Humpty was still gushing about the crab as he lent closer to get a better look at it.

Dee saw what was going to happen a split second before it actually did. Humpty slipped on the muddy bank and fell in to the river. Dee lunged forward and managed to grab a hold of his arm but she didn't have any firm traction either so she was pulled in to the river along with him. The water was so cold that it took her breath away but she kept her grip on Humpty's wrist and pulled him into her chest.

"Wrap your arms around my neck and don't let go." She said into his ear and the eight year old did just that. Dee looked up but it seemed like the river was carrying them away too quickly for anyone to catch up to them on foot. She kept one arm holding on tightly to Humpty while looking everywhere for something to grab on to with her free hand. It didn't help that the waters kept spinning them around and around making Dee dizzy and disoriented.

Finally though, Dee managed to grab a sturdy tree root which was overhanging from the river bank. She gripped it tightly and used it to pull them closer to the bank and out of the fastest stream of water. Their clothes were saturated, weighing the pair of them down so Dee had to tread water constantly to prevent them from sinking.

"Still with me?" Dee whispered to Humpty. He clung to her tighter but he nodded. "We're gonna be alright, I've got you." She attempted to keep her voice as calm as possible to try and soothe him. But she stiffened when she caught sight of the biggest festival tents in the distance. _'We're on the opposite bank and I didn't see any bridges, they're not going to get here in time.'_ The frigid water was quickly sapping her strength and she didn't know how much longer she could hold on for.

Dee was just about to try and push Humpty up and onto the river bank alone when someone grabbed her under both arms and hauled the pair of them out of the water, dragging them back and away from the edge.

"Dee! Are you ok?!" Noir was kneeling next to her and he helped her to sit up. He wasn't wearing his Cheshire Cat poncho and hood, revealing his face. He'd had to rush his teleportation spell and had left his disguise behind as a result.

"Ccc-cold…" Dee's teeth were chattering so hard that it was hard to speak. Humpty still had his face pressed into her neck as he sobbed uncontrollably. "G-go, th-there's p-people c-coming... Th-thanks, N-…" She stopped before she said Noir's name, just because the frightened child in her arms wasn't looking, didn't mean he wasn't listening. The Black Prince looked torn for a moment but Dee gave him an encouraging nod, which he returned before disappearing into the bushes.

Almost in the next instant Bill, Mad and Ash burst through the undergrowth from the opposite direction. As they ran, they slid to their knees next to her and Dee saw Joker was standing behind them holding an inconsolable Dumpty in his arms.

"Look, there they are! See? I told you they'd be ok." Joker's tone was matter of fact as he tried to comfort him but his crimson eyes betrayed how scared he'd been. Behind him there was a crowd of other festival goers who had also ran after them to try and help. However, worryingly Dee began feeling like she didn't have the energy left to even shiver anymore.

"We need to get them dry and warmed up now! My village is closest to here, let's take them there." Even though Bill was right next to her, he sounded so far away. Ash gently took Humpty out of her arms and wrapped himself around the kid to try and give him some body heat. Dee felt herself being lifted up into the air and the movement brought back her consciousness enough to hear someone in the crowd murmuring.

"Alice jumped in and saved Humpty?" The tone had a note of puzzlement to it, that wasn't exactly what happened but Dee wasn't able to correct them right now.

"That's NOT her NAME!" Dumpty let out a high pitched and angry screech. "Her name is DEE!" Joker cuddled the blonde boy close to him, stroking the back of his head and whispering in his ear to calm him down.

"We don't have time for this!" Bill declared as he looked at Dee in his arms, she appeared to have passed out. "We have to run, Ash, let's go!" He said to the Mouse next to him and they both took off into the forest.

The next time Dee opened her eyes, there was a familiar face looking down at her.

"Oh good. You're finally awake." Irena looked relieved. As her senses began to wake up Dee realised that she was lying under a number of blankets and she could hear the crackling of a fire nearby. "Do you think you can sit up?" Dee nodded and started trying to push herself up, the mouse woman slid an arm around Dee's back to help her.

"Where are we?" The girl asked as she looked around. She was lying on the floor inside a large one room hut with a cone shaped roof, there was a hole at the top where the smoke from the open fire pit could escape.

"The meeting hall in the Lizard village. I happened to be visiting and talking with the Elders when Bill and Ash brought you here." Irena explained. Remembering something, Dee stiffened and looked around anxiously.

"Humpty! Where is he?! Is he ok?!" She called out in a panic, going to throw back the blankets fully to get up and look for him. Irena grabbed her hands to stop her.

"He's absolutely fine. He woke up before you did, and now he and Dumpty are refusing to let go of each other." The Mouse gently pushed her back on to the makeshift bed. "Here. Have some tea, it will make you feel better." The older woman lifted a tea cosy off the teapot so she could pour it.

"From Mad?" Dee queried as she took the tea cup from Irena, who nodded with a smile.

"He was able to dry your clothes instantly with magic but we had to get you warmed back up the old fashioned way." Irena noticed Dee looking around like she was wondering where Mad was. "I sent all the boys outside because they couldn't sit still. They were just so worried about you. I stayed to make sure there was a friendly face here for you when you woke up though. I'll go and let them back in now."

Dee sipped at her tea as Irena got up and walked over to the wooden door and beckoned the guys in. Four people came in eagerly, all looking relieved to see her awake and sitting up.

"I'm so glad you're ok, I came as soon as I got the message about what happened. How are you feeling?" Sakuto grabbed Dee's hand and gave it a firm squeeze as he knelt down next to her.

"Kinda tired and I'm aching in places, but I'm ok." She squeezed his hand back and gave him a smile to reassure him.

"You and Humpty had some bumps and scrapes from the rocks but nothing serious." Mad informed her to explain why she was aching. He sat down with her and refilled her tea cup. "It took a while but we managed to convince the twins to go sleep in Bill's place. Joker's still with them because they wouldn't close their eyes unless he promised that he wouldn't leave their side."

"Everyone in the village has been talking about how you jumped into the river to save Humpty. The paper already picked up the story naming you a hero." Bill held up a newspaper to show Dee the front page. She couldn't read the text at this distance but there was a picture of when they found the two of them on the river bank. It was an awful photo of her but, to be fair, she had just nearly drowned.

"I'm not that much of a hero, I didn't dive after him, I slipped and fell in myself." She clarified with a faint flush to her cheeks. Ash had sat down next to his aunt and shrugged his shoulders.

"If it stops… the people of Wonderland being so mean to you, then we don't need… to mention that part." He stated with an almost conspiratorial smile that made Dee chuckle.

"So, Irena, do you think you and the rest of the Mice might be able to settle here?" Bill turned to the older woman to get back to business now he was sure Dee was going to be fine.

"Yes, I think so. I'll admit that I was concerned as to whether there would be enough room for both clans but it doesn't look like space will be an issue." Irena said and Bill grinned at her happily. "Obviously it would have been nice to rebuild Santorina but while it remains a territory of Gentiana, that's not going to happen." She added with a wistful sigh. Ash put his hand on top of hers and gave it a squeeze as he said.

"Maybe one day, but for now Santorina still lives on in our hearts." Dee smiled as she watched the two of them before Sakuto put an arm around her shoulders to steady her.

"Careful… you were swaying. Why don't you lie down? You must be exhausted." He said with a concerned look and Dee nodded with a yawn, it didn't seem like her body was giving her much choice in the matter anyway. Irena lent over to pull up the blankets and tuck Dee in and she was asleep before she even knew it.

* * *

A few days after the Trade Festival found Dee in her flat browsing through cake designs on her laptop as she tended to do whenever she was at a loose end. Her mind wandered as she scrolled and clicked on anything that caught her interest '_The people of Wonderland are finally treating me like I'm a person and not some sort of alien creature. At least I don't have to worry about 'Alice' hunting or what they are saying about me behind my back anymore.'_ Thus, Sakuto's and the Green King's decrees became mostly academic and no one from Protea had seriously tried to hunt her before anyway for fear of incurring the Red Queen's wrath.

However, the thought of Ruber made Dee glance to the date. _'It's been three weeks since I had my trial, though because I always go to Wonderland when I sleep it feels like double that… And I'm still not in love with anyone. Noir did say he'd save me somehow but still; I can't help but worry.'_ Dee chewed her lip anxiously before she shook her head to try and get rid of those thoughts.

Suddenly her doorbell rang insistently and she got up to answer it.

"Dee! I'm glad I caught you!" Mad was standing there with a big smile and a basket under his arm. "I'm having a tea party picnic if you'd like to come along?" Dee couldn't say no to that happy face, so she grinned back at him and nodded.

"A tea party picnic? How does that differ from a standard tea party then?" Dee asked as she grabbed her keys and followed him out in to the hallway. The hatter gave her a shocked look like the answer should be obvious.

"What do you mean? It's completely different because instead of drinking tea at a table, we will be drinking tea while sitting on a picnic blanket!" Mad replied in his normal enthusiastic way as the pair of them walked out of the apartment building and headed towards the park. Once they got there, they looked around to find a place to spread out the blanket.

"Are you sure you want us to set up so close to the lake, Mad? I'll agree the view's nice but we're gonna end up mobbed… the ducks aren't the issue really, it's the geese you've got to watch out for. They're vicious." Dee cautioned when Mad made his first suggestion.

"Yes, you're right about that. I really don't want to get bitten again if I can help it." He murmured with a small frown as he looked around. "How about over there then? We'll be out of the way of joggers and the trees will give us a bit of shade so we don't get too hot." Mad pointed to an area with his cane. Dee nodded in agreement and they headed in that direction.

Mad set down the picnic basket and pulled the blanket out and spread it on the ground. Luckily there wasn't much wind today so they wouldn't need to weigh it down at the corners. They both sat down and Mad started unpacking the food and drink.

"Oh wow! You've really gone all out, haven't you?" Dee exclaimed sounding delighted. There were a number of different flavoured sandwiches, some small cakes, cookies, biscuits and juice. There were also several flasks of tea but that went without saying with Mad around.

"Yes, and I made it all without magic!" The hatter declared proudly but Dee just stared at him until he admitted "Well most of it anyways, I still can't get biscuits right. They come out so hard you can use them as blunt projectiles." He glared at the tub containing the magically created ones like it was their fault.

"No one can do everything, Mad, I can't make a souffle to save my life. I always get too impatient and open the oven door too soon and *floof* it deflates." Dee told him with a laugh, trying to make him feel better about the failed biscuits. "The others weren't up for the picnic then?" She asked. The fact Joker, Sakuto and Bill didn't fancy it wasn't a surprise but Ash was usually happy to tag along to anything as long as Mad was there too.

"I asked but they all had other plans today, so it seems." Mad shrugged but didn't look put out or disappointed as he reached for some sandwiches. He seemed to have accepted the fact that not everyone wanted to have a tea party every day like he did.

The two of them spent the afternoon eating and enjoying talking about anything and everything. Mad was always interested to hear about things this world had that Wonderland didn't, like airplanes, windmills and factories. Though the hatter always wanted to know exactly *how* things worked, and very often that was beyond Dee's realm of expertise. Whenever than happened she got out her phone to find a site that could explain it all to him.

"Hmmm, I'd have to say I prefer flying on a Pegasus. I still find it hard to trust these 'engine' things that everything seems to use over here." Mad said with a small frown as his forehead creased in thought.

"You like electricity though, right? Especially with how convenient it is." Dee reminded him as she put her phone away again.

"Yes! It's amazing, I hardly ever need to use my magic in our apartment because electricity does everything for me!" Mad beamed at her as he agreed.

"Good, I'm glad there's things that you like about this world. Wonderland is so fantastic that I wouldn't have been surprised if my world didn't bore you to tears." Dee admitted to him, she'd been worried that after the initial novelty had worn off, it would all be pretty mundane to her friends.

"What? No way!" He insisted with a smile. "It's so different here that there's no way it would ever be boring! And I'm not just talking about me either: Sakuto's been obsessed with reading all the Alice world's literature, Bill has fell in love with playing basketball and all the other sports we don't have, Ash loves the stars and can't get over how often night comes around here and Joker's talking about learning how to ride a motorcycle."

Listening to Mad go on about what everyone loved about her world made her very happy. They had shared Wonderland with her so she had really wanted them to enjoy being here too.

"You have no idea how pleased I am to hear that, thank you." Dee replied and she smiled serenely as a comfortable silence fell between them. Dee let her eyes wander as she watched people as they milled around the park. Evening was drawing in so most were beginning to head home, she was about to suggest that they do the same when Mad said her name.

"Dee…" When she turned to him, she jumped because his face was mere centimetres from her own. Before she could pull back, Mad had put a hand on the back of her neck and pressed his lips to hers. Dee's mind went blank in surprise for a moment before she placed both her hands on Mad's chest and pushed him away with all her strength.

"Have you lost your goddammed mind?! What the hell was that about?!" Dee demanded angrily as she glared at Mad, her brain still reeling in shock at what had just happened. For his part, Mad was looking intently at her face like he was trying to see something in it.

"Didn't you feel anything?" He asked in a quiet voice. After hearing the question, things started to click into place and she started to make sense of the situation.

"Of all the stupid things to do…" Dee growled at him as she shook her head in exasperation. "You're an idiot… If you were willing to go so far as to kiss me, why didn't you just give me a love potion to force me to fall in love with you?" Her rage was fading as quickly as it flared up even though she was still far from happy with Mad as she folded her arms across her chest.

"That wouldn't work, the feelings wouldn't be real and it would eventually wear off so it wouldn't count as an awakening of love." The magician explained to her, showing that he'd at least thought of it as an option. "I'm sorry but I felt I needed to do something! I'm really worried about what's going to happen if you don't make a 'Heart' and the Red Queen tries to kill you…"

"What do you mean? What are you afraid of?" There was something in Mad's loaded tone of voice that made Dee feel uneasy but she had to ask anyway.

"There's a whole lot of people in Wonderland who like and care about you now. If the Red Queen tries to carry out your execution, I don't think the citizens will stand for it and I'm afraid a civil war could break out in Protea followed by the citizens of Gardenia and Alchemilla demanding action from their monarchies as well." The hatter's face was grave, this was something that he honestly believed was a real possibility.

"That- that's not fair, Mad!" Dee cried out as tears sprang to her eyes at his words. She span around to sit with her back to him so he couldn't see her face. "As if it wasn't bad enough that I knew my friends would be upset if I die, now I've got the entire fate of Wonderland on my shoulders too! …I never asked for any of this, you know!" Now they'd started, there was no holding back her frightened and distressed sobs. These were all the emotions she'd been keeping inside as the dreaded day drew closer and closer.

"I know…" Mad said softly as he shifted nearer and wrapped his arms around her from behind. "I'm sorry if I made it sound like I was blaming you… none of this is your fault, you haven't done anything wrong, Dee, believe me." Mad's soothing voice in Dee's ear gradually calmed her down so her sobs slowed to sniffles. Feeling drained, she lay her head tiredly against his chest.

Night fell as they stayed like that for quite some time without speaking. Dee could hear Mad's heartbeat and she took strength from it. Eventually she took a deep breath before drawing away so she could look at his face.

"Could I ask a favour?" She asked and Mad nodded instantly in reply. "Can I stay at your place tonight, please? I'll need to swing by mine to get some things but I really don't want to be on my own right now if I can help it." Dee felt a little childish for asking, but she always felt at ease when she was with the Wonderland boys. Even though she'd only known them for such a short period of time, they'd become a massive part of her life.

"Of course, you can! We can have a tea slumber party! It'll be great!" Mad's face broke out in to a happy grin as he answered enthusiastically. The pair of them quickly packed up the picnic stuff and left the park to head to Dee's flat.

Once they got there, Dee went off to sort out an overnight bag and Mad decided to inform the others of the situation. He pulled out his phone and put into the group:

:: Heads up! Dee is coming over to stay at our place tonight! ::

:: …What did you do to her, hatter? :: Joker questioned him almost immediately.

:: That's not important! What is important is we've got to make sure we have FUN with a capital F! ::

:: I'll order in pizza and sort out some drinks and snacks. :: Ash posted in with a pizza slice emoji, evidently completely onboard with the plan.

:: Sakuto's in Wonderland, I'll quickly go and grab him or he'll sulk because we left him out. :: Bill added as Dee came out of her room with a rucksack over her shoulder, she had her phone in her hand as she fixed Mad with a look.

"I take it Operation Kiss wasn't discussed with anyone beforehand?" Dee asked him with a raised eyebrow. She let the magician squirm for a moment or two before she continued. "Don't worry, I won't say anything and I'll make something up about why I wanted to stop over if needs be."

"Really? You're the best, Dee, seriously." Mad sounded relieved before he offered her his arm like a gentleman might do. She grinned and looped hers through it as she said.

"Hey, what are friends for? Now let's get going!"

* * *

A couple of days later, Sakuto had asked Dee to join him at Chalk Castle. When she arrived, she was shown to the castle gardens. Sakuto was waiting for her in a large gazebo and Ash and Joker were there too.

"Hey! What's up? You are all looking very serious today." She commented as she sat down on a patio chair at the prince's urging.

"We've heard some disturbing news. It looks Gentiana are still interested in the so-called immortality rumours." Sakuto informed Dee with a solemn look on his face.

"I suppose it *was* too much to hope that they'd given up on that. Especially considering the Black King's ambitions for Wonderland." Dee said with a sigh and a shake of her head. Joker was standing by the table with his arms folded, he was usually their best source for this sort of information as most people didn't seem to take much notice of him.

"I managed to find out that they've sent out a couple of lone operatives to try and capture you. Gentiana probably knows that any large-scale movement of troops is gonna meet resistance so they've opted for this route. I don't know who these agents are but Ash says he's got a pretty good idea on that score." Joker looked over to the Mouse who was standing next to him. Ash nodded to Dee when she moved her gaze to him.

"It's probably Maryanne and Siam. Maryanne was raised to be an assassin from childhood. She has long black hair and she dresses like a maid. Due to her upbringing, she's completely emotionless, very strong, fast and tends to carry an iron pipe as a weapon. Siam is a Cat Knight and he likes to dual wield with two swords. He's a coward though, so if someone who can hold their own gets in his way, he's most likely to turn tail and run." It was obvious that Ash had crossed swords with the two of them on more than one occasion.

"Alright, thanks for the descriptions, it gives me something to look out for. Do you have any suggestions about what else I should be doing right now, Prince Sakuto?" Dee enquired after taking a moment to absorb everything she'd been told.

"I don't think you should go anywhere unaccompanied until the threat has passed, hopefully that alone might discourage them from trying to kidnap you. If not, then someone will be there to protect you." Sakuto looked Dee in the eye as he told her his thoughts.

"But *when* exactly is the threat going to pass though? Even if we catch these two, what's stopping Gentiana from sending out more assassins?" Dee asked them, she had hated feeling permanently persecuted before most people in Wonderland came to accept her. She didn't want to go back to that if she could help it. "The real issue is the rumour. Gentiana should have no need for me if we can somehow convince the Black King that my blood doesn't grant eternal life."

"You're absolutely right in what you are saying but I don't think it's going to be that easy." The White Prince replied. "It's not likely that the Black King is going to believe anyone who just tells him the rumour is false and we have no way of proving that fact."

"Hmmm, maybe we don't need to prove that Dee's blood doesn't grant immortality… What if we start a counter-rumour that her blood is actually toxic or something?" Joker had a meditative look on his face as he considered whether his plan was feasible. "If we're careful enough, we should be able to leak the information out and wait for it to snowball on its own."

"If we do a good enough job… maybe the Black King won't be willing to take that risk." Ash mused, already warming up to the idea.

"Do you really think we can make it look like a natural rumour and not one that we've deliberately planted?" Dee questioned them. She was liking this plan a lot. *If* they could pull it off then it should remove Gentiana's interest in her for good. Joker gave her a cocky half-smile.

"Of course, we can! No one knows the dark corners of Wonderland like I do." He stated as he puffed his chest out with pride.

"Starting a believable rumour… will probably be easier than smuggling fifty people across a border." Ash nodded with his own reassuring smile.

"We have nothing to lose by trying. If it doesn't work then we'll have to come up with a new idea is all." Sakuto added with a nod of resolution. "Leave it with us and we'll start making a plan."

"One other thing I've been thinking of…" Dee wasn't sure how well her next request was going to go down but it was something she'd been considering for a while now. "I don't like always needing someone else to protect me. I could stand to learn some self-defence so I'm not completely useless anymore." Sakuto and Ash looked surprised but Joker took it in his stride.

"It's not a bad idea. Something light like a short sword or a knife would probably be best. I'll see about giving you a few lessons soon." Dee gave Joker a warm smile of gratitude, glad he hadn't dismissed her out of hand.

"I suppose if it's for your own protection then I can't really argue…" Sakuto still sounded unsure. "Just as long as i-"

"Excuse me, Your Majesty, I apologise for interrupting but there's a card soldier from Protea to see Miss Dee and he says it's urgent." A rabbit butler appeared, he bowed before relaying his message.

"To see me?" Dee asked in confusion as she got up from her chair. The butler led the four of them to the main hall where Cardia was waiting for them. As soon as he saw Dee, he approached her.

"Alice, you need to come with me. You've been recalled to the court by order of the Red Queen." His grey eyes regarded her coldly as he took out a pair of shackles.

"But her trial isn't for another week!" Sakuto protested as he went to stand in front of the woman to shield her, Ash and Joker were quick to do the same.

"The Red Queen has sensed that the 'Alice' has managed to create a 'Heart'." Cardia's voice was a near monotone as he delivered this startling news. Everyone was stunned, none more so than Dee herself.

"But how is that even possible? I haven't fallen in love with anyone!" She insisted from her position behind the three men.

"As an 'Alice' you're probably just too stupid to realise it. The Queen has decreed that you'll hand over your 'Heart' in court tomorrow. Now come here." Cardia reached to grab Dee, but Joker brandished his twin knives with a menacing growl of warning before he could touch her. The soldier withdrew his hand but stated coolly. "Interference will be interpreted as an act of aggression against the crown of Protea."

There was a tense standoff for a few minutes before Dee walked out from behind her three protectors and approached Cardia.

"Fine. I'll go with you. I have no intention of being the cause of any national hostilities." She stated drawing gasps from those in the room.

"Dee! What are you saying?!" Ash's voice was full of disbelief as Cardia put the shackles on her.

"Don't worry, nothing bad will happen tomorrow." Dee told them without turning around, she didn't trust her voice to stay steady and calm if she saw her friends' expressions right now. "If I have a 'Heart' then the Red Queen won't execute me and if I haven't, then she'll have to release me for the remainder of my month. So please, trust me and let me leave with him." She heard Joker about to voice a protest before he was suddenly stopped. Cardia gave her a condescending smile.

"You might actually be a little smarter than I gave you credit for, Alice." He remarked as he started to lead her away. _'Please don't interfere, guys, I couldn't bear it if the Red Queen did something to you because of me.' _Dee's internal prayer appeared to be answered as they managed to leave Chalk Castle without further incident.

The card soldier made her walk in front of him, giving the girl a small shove on more than one occasion to make her walk more quickly.

"There's really no need to keep pushing me, Cardia… and are the handcuffs strictly necessary seeing as I'm going along willingly?" Dee asked him in a sour tone.

"There's no telling what an 'Alice' like you might be plotting. So stop complaining and keep walking!" Cardia snapped at her as he gave her a harder shove.

"What the hell is with that attitude?! Your queen is getting what she wanted all along, right?... Then what are you so goddamned angry about?" Dee questioned him bad-temperedly once she regained her footing from that last push.

"I'm not angry." Cardia insisted, refusing to answer the question. "No more talking." He ordered her, making Dee sigh with a nod.

* * *

The next day found Dee sitting in a cell in the dungeons of Crimson Castle, she hadn't slept a wink last night and that wasn't because the bed in the cell was little more than metal bedframe and a paper-thin mattress. Despite her confident words yesterday, she was terrified. The Red Queen was totally bewitched by the power of 'Hearts', her temper was truly frightening and she was the strongest magician in Wonderland. No matter how many times she ran through it all in her head, her situation wasn't looking good. She was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of footsteps.

"Alice, it's time for your trial." Cardia approached her cell door and unlocked it. Dee stood up from the bed and walked into the light where the soldier noticed the dark circles under her eyes. "Couldn't sleep?" He asked, a slight edge of concern in his voice.

"Could you in my shoes?" Dee asked him rhetorically as she allowed Cardia to put her back in shackles. The pair of them left the dungeon and walked up the steps straight into the open-air plaza of Crimson Castle which doubled as the Red Queen's own private courtroom.

It took a moment for Dee's eyes to adjust to the sunlight after the gloom of the cells. She heard a hushed murmur of voices from the packed spectators' gallery and she smiled faintly when she spotted Sakuto, Bill, Joker, Ash and Mad all sitting right at the front. _'Noir is probably here somewhere too. Hiding out of sight, waiting for the best time to make a dramatic entrance, I'll bet.'_ Cardia led her to the dock and silence fell over the court as the Red Queen took her seat high on the judge's bench.

"Alice…" She began to speak but when she laid eyes on Dee, the Red Queen stopped and merely stared at her with widened eyes. Dee thought she knew the reason for her surprise.

"I knew it… I don't have a 'Heart'." The defendant said out loud. "In which case, you should release me right now. I still have ti-"

"No!" Ruber interrupted Dee. "You do indeed have a 'Heart', Alice. It's just… it's… it's blue." The Red Queen's words caused a stir in the court as people began whispering in shock.

"Then what's the problem? You ordered me to make a 'Heart', I made a 'Heart'. You didn't specify a colour." Dee answered as calmly as she could. She desperately wanted to glance at her friends for strength but she kept her eyes forward for now.

"Awakening Crystals are always red! I've never seen or even heard of blue 'Heart'!" The Red Queen raised her voice but Dee got the feeling the queen was more confused than truly angry right now.

"Is that right?" Dee chewed her lip in thought as a possible explanation began to come together in her mind. "I'm not going to pretend I understand everything about this, but I think I might know how I've made a 'Heart' even though I'm not in love. If I'm right about that then that could explain why it's blue too." The Red Queen stared long and hard at Dee in the stand and Dee just stared right back at her without flinching.

"Fine, Alice, let us hear your theory." Ruber already sounded completely disinterested but she allowed the defendant the chance to speak.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. Firstly, I'd like to say that although there's been some really rough spots, these last few weeks have been the best days of my life. I have had so much fun it's unbelievable. I didn't think it was even possible to laugh so hard and so often…" Dee finally allowed herself a furtive sidelong look at her friends. They were all watching her intently, listening carefully to every word. She returned her gaze to the bench and continued. "I think an Awakening Crystal formed because any normal woman would have fallen in love with one of them by now."

"…And you're not a normal woman?" The Red Queen asked, her tone more curious. In fact, there was complete silence in the courtroom as everyone held their collective breaths in anticipation of what would be said next.

"No, far from it." Dee shook her head sadly, looking down as she spoke. "I didn't want to admit this… not to myself, not to anyone… But the reason I couldn't fall in love is because I don't believe in love."

There were more than a few audible gasps of shock as people began whispering among themselves again. The news came as a bolt from the blue to the Wonderland boys, they hadn't expected her to say that, having spent so much time with her, they found it had to believe that Dee wasn't able to love someone.

"I think I'm beginning to follow. You think that a 'Heart' formed because you *should* have fallen in love but turned blue because you couldn't?" Ruber posed that question to Dee with a thoughtful look, at receiving an answering nod, she continued. "Why don't you believe in love? What happened to you?"

Dee sighed and wrapped her arms around herself as best she could in handcuffs, looking towards an empty part of the courtroom so she didn't have to meet anyone's gaze. She took a deep breath before she started her story.

"I was fourteen when both my parents died in a car accident. Not only had I just lost all the family I had but I also inherited a significant amount in assets. In my grief I was incredibly vulnerable. Initially I was sent to a foster family but it wasn't long before I realised that they were taking excessive amounts of money from my funds for 'living expenses' and I ran away."

Dee cut a forlorn figure in the dock. Ash could empathise instinctively with her pain at losing her loved ones. But the difference was that at Ash's darkest moment someone reached out a kind hand to him. The Mouse glanced to his left. He was truly thankful for that hand because without Mad, and without Dee too, he would never have lived long enough to see the restoration of his clan.

"Having cash made it easier to find someone willing to rent a place to a teenager but I'd never lived by myself before. I didn't know how to cook, clean, how to pay bills or anything like that. Then I met some people who started showing me the ropes. I was so grateful for their help that it only seemed natural to buy them nice things to say thanks… I-I thought they were my friends. But as soon as the gifts stopped, I realised that's all they cared about all along. They didn't actually give a damn about me." Dee's breath hitched in her throat and she bit down on her lip.

Bill was gripping the railing in front of him so tightly he thought he might crack the veneer. He wanted nothing more than to vault from the spectators' gallery, wrap Dee in a hug and promise her that he wouldn't let anyone hurt her like that ever again.

"Initially I thought I'd just been unlucky in meeting selfish people like that. I was lonely and still in mourning so I was pretty desperate for some human companionship." Dee had regained enough composure to continue with her story. "Maybe it was partly my own fault for trying too hard to get people to like me, but I'd go out somewhere and flash the cash a bit. It got people's attention, that's for sure. But obviously they weren't the type of characters a vulnerable teenager like me should have been hanging around with and I learnt that the very hard way. While I understand that everyone aspires to a higher quality of life than the one they currently have, the depths that some of them were willing to sink to in order to achieve it still sickens me to this day."

There were some very unpleasant things being implied by Dee's choice of words and Sakuto couldn't stop tears forming in his eyes. He couldn't understand how anyone could be so cruel as to take advantage of an orphaned girl when all she needed was a friend. At least the prince now understood why Dee hadn't stopped speaking to Bill and Joker despite their initial underhand motives. Compared to what she'd already been through, their betrayals were almost benign.

"After being hurt one too many times, I just stopped trusting or caring about people. Full stop. I moved into a smaller and simpler flat and tried to live modestly so no one could tell I was rich just by looking at me and my life. I was pretty bitter and cynical for the longest time, I immediately lashed out at anyone who tried to get close to me because I couldn't trust their intentions." Dee glanced up at the Red Queen, afraid that she was boring her but Ruber was still listening to her carefully.

"It took a few years but eventually I stopped being so angry all the time. I started to pick up a few nice hobbies to keep me occupied and I began giving money away anonymously to good causes. These things made me happier and before I knew it, I was feeling like my old self again. The only difference being that I just got used to being on my own." Having got past the most painful parts of her history, Dee stopped hugging herself and was able to turn her eyes forward again.

Joker knew better than anyone what it was like to be alone all the time, in fact he could directly relate when Dee spoke of her bitterness and cynicism at the world. Maybe that's why he had felt strangely at ease with her even on that very first day. Joker had always thought that Dee and him were in the same boat because the people of Wonderland hated them both for no justifiable reason, he didn't realise their similarities ran much deeper than that.

It wasn't only Dee he'd spent a lot of time with lately either, he felt closer to the other four guys as a result as well. It didn't matter that they'd never shunned him in the past, he had still kept them at a distance until this situation had forced them to all live together in the Alice world. These few weeks hadn't just been the best of Dee's life, it had been the best of Joker's too.

"I'll admit that my initial reaction to being told I had to fall in love within a month was blind panic. I wasn't even sure I could still connect emotionally with another person; it had been that long. But my life was on the line, so I had to at least give it a try, right? …However, when things got off to such a good start with the guys, I actually became optimistic about my chances. I decided to do my best, roll with it and see what developed." Dee paused sadly for a moment. "But I guess the deepest wounds take the longest to heal. I've made some really good friends, but I still can't trust love."

Even though Mad had been thinking the opposite a lot lately, at this moment he was truly glad that Dee had been brought to Wonderland. If she hadn't, she might have continued living her life in self-isolation forever. Mad was certain that wasn't what her parents would have wanted for her. No matter what happened, he was going to make sure Dee never felt the need to push the whole world away like that again.

"Alice… it's not often I'm at a loss for words but…" The Red Queen was looking down at Dee with something that looked like pity. It made a huge difference from her normal distant superiority or her fiery rage. Dee remembered Noir's whole aim for getting her involved in this was so he could save Ruber from herself. In the end, he'd given Dee the opportunity to meet some 'wonderful' people. It was time to try and give him a little something back.

"Your Majesty, if you take this 'Heart' away from me right now, you'll be taking away some of the happiest memories I have. I can tell from the look in your eyes that you're not cold enough to do that after hearing my story." What Dee was about to say could be very risky but she pushed her fear aside and continued "If that's true then what's so different about all the other 'Hearts' you have? Each of them contains the memories, emotions and magic of someone's first love. They will never have that 'first love' again… and, thanks to you, they'll never remember it either. And that's truly the saddest thing I've said today."

Dee jumped as the courtroom exploded into spontaneous applause once she'd finished speaking. As she looked around in surprise, she caught sight of a familiar cat hood peering over the external wall of the plaza. Cheshire Cat made a gesture like he was taking his hat off to her and Dee smiled back at him. Then suddenly, the Red Queen banged her gavel twice against the sound block and the spectators finally quietened down.

"I need some time to consider whether or not to carry out your sentence, Alice, so I'll be retiring to my chambers for a while." The queen hadn't immediately called for Dee to be beheaded for her insolence so perhaps her words had got through to Ruber. "Cardia, take her back to her cell for the time being."

There were shouts of protest from the gallery calling for her to be released immediately. As Cardia led Dee down the stairs back to the dungeon, she could definitely hear Joker's and Bill's voices among them at least. Once they got underground, the masonry around them drowned out most of the sound as Cardia removed her shackles and opened the cell door. Dee walked in obediently and she heard the door being closed and locked behind her.

"Dee…" But Cardia didn't seem to be in a hurry to leave. Surprised to hear him using her name, Dee turned back to face him. "I don't think you know, but the queen has had me watching you for a while now. It's strange, even when the majority of Wonderland hated you, you just took it in your stride and didn't let it hold you back. You smiled and laughed like you didn't have a worry in the world. It fascinated me and before I knew it, I was admiring you." Cardia's grey eyes were looking at Dee with incredible kindness. He reached through the gap in the cell bars and began to stroke her cheek gently with the back of his fingers.

"Cardia…" Dee breathed out his name, his feelings coming as a complete surprise to her.

"When I thought you had given your heart to someone else, I couldn't help regretting that I hadn't approached or spoken to you sooner. I thought I'd lost my chance to get to know you better and see where that might have led us." The honesty in Cardia's eyes and the longing in his voice made a blush creep across Dee's face.

"That's very sweet of you to say. But even if you had, I probably would have thought you were just trying to get a 'Heart' out of me for the Red Queen and not given you a chance. Weren't you listening before? I'm pretty broken." Dee stated in a self-depreciating way. The soldier shook his head with a gentle smile.

"You're not broken, you're beautiful. It might take some time but I think you'll be able to believe in love again one day… and I hope I'm right there to see it." Cardia consoled Dee, watching as her eyes widened in surprise at his words. He reluctantly drew his hand back through the bars. "I'm sorry I can't stay with you. Try and get some sleep and I'll come get you if the queen calls."

The card soldier walked away and when Dee couldn't hear his footsteps anymore, she raised a hand to the cheek he'd touched in disbelief as she whispered into the darkness.

"Thank you, Cardia."

Some hours later, Dee's former suitors had been summoned to the audience chamber of Crimson Castle. Sakuto stepped forward and bowed to Ruber who was sitting on her throne with Cardia standing next to her.

"Thank you for sending for us, Your Highness. In fact, we were going to request a meeting with you to discuss Dee's immediate release." The White Prince was impeccably polite as always but he had a serious expression on his face. The Red Queen stared and studied the group for a moment before she began to speak.

"Well I suppose that answers one question… I'm afraid I can't release the 'Alice'" The queen held her hand up to forestall anyone interrupting her. "… I can't release her because she isn't here." Bill blinked at her in shock.

"What do you mean she's not here?!" The Lizard asked incredulously. The Red Queen glanced at Cardia and he stepped forward.

"When I went to check on her, D- Alice's cell had been forced open and she was gone. There were signs of struggle but we couldn't discount the possibility that one of you were responsible and had staged the scene." The soldier informed them. "So, Her Majesty called for you but it seems we should be looking elsewhere for the culprit." Ash had a bad feeling about this, he shared a glance with Mad and could see that he was thinking the same thing.

"It's got to be those assassins from Gentiana. They are the only ones apart from us who could have any reason to bust her out of the dungeon." Joker was trembling with rage. "This is all your fault! If you hadn't left her alone then they couldn't have taken her!" Both Ruber and Cardia seemed to be the targets of his angry tirade. Sakuto put a gentle hand on his shoulder and squeezed it.

"Now's not the time to be blaming people. The most important thing is finding Dee before anything happens to her." The prince's words immediately curtailed Joker's temper. "If the Black King really is involved, we'll find her in Dark Castle."

"Well what are we standing around for? Let's go!" Bill declared urgently and the five of them turned around to run out of the hall. However, Cheshire Cat was waiting for them at the bottom of the castle steps.

"Wait, I'm going with you to save Dee." He informed them; his voice was more serious than they'd ever heard it before.

"Why would you do that?" Mad questioned him with narrowed eyes. With a single movement of his arm, Noir threw off his poncho. Sakuto recognised him instantly and gasped in shock.

"It's about time I told my father just how much I disagree with his method of ruling." Noir said by way of explanation. That answer seemed to satisfy Mad who nodded and Joker added.

"I don't think they'll be much 'talking' involved but I'll take any help I can get right now. Let's go."

* * *

When Maryanne used her pipe to break open the cell lock with ease, Dee knew there was no way she could win against her. Still she fought back as hard as she could and the assassin was forced to knock her unconscious to prevent anyone from hearing the commotion and coming to investigate which would have dented her intended head start.

When Dee woke up, she was somewhere that she didn't recognise, it seemed to be a place built out of black stone and she could see an imposing throne. It appeared to have been moved so instead of facing outwards in to the room, it was now facing her… and it was occupied.

"The 'Alice' finally awakens." The black haired man in the throne said in a booming voice and Dee knew instinctively that this was the Black King of Gentiana. It was at that point she realised that she was shackled to the wall. There were metal brackets around both her wrists, both ankles and even a larger restraint encircling her abdomen. Dee was completely incapable of moving an inch.

Kneeling before the throne were Maryanne and a cat dressed in Eastern-style armour. Dee assumed this was Siam. The Cat Knight had the fur markings of a Siamese cat from her world and he was roughly the size of a teenaged boy. Dee was disturbed from her thoughts by the king rising to his feet to approach her, he was at least two metres tall and probably more than that. His broad physique just added to his overwhelming and oppressive presence. Just knowing everything this dictator had done, Dee found that she couldn't supress the hatred she felt for this man.

"You have some nerve to glare at me, Alice… I trust that even a creature like you knows who I am?" The Black King questioned her as he drew his broadsword from his scabbard in a gesture designed to intimidate her.

"You are the Black King of Gentiana. Destroyer of Santorina. Currently trying to invade Gardenia but you've made no secret of your aim to take over the whole of Wonderland eventually." Dee didn't stop glaring at him and made sure to keep her voice monotoned. She didn't want to give this tyrant the satisfaction of knowing how scared she was.

"All true, well done, Alice! And with your help, I'm going to be so much more!" The king's tone was triumphant as he signalled for Maryanne and Siam to get up from where they were still kneeling. "I don't want one drop of Alice's precious blood to be wasted by soaking into her clothing. Prepare her for the letting." Dee let out an involuntary shriek of fright as the Black King's servants rushed towards her with blades drawn.

With ruthless efficiency they took one leg each and cut off her shoes and socks before moving on to her jeans. They cut the fabric at mid-thigh and sliced down the outer seams to pull them off in one piece. Maryanne and Siam then collected the ruined clothes in their arms and disposed of them in a burlap sack.

It was at that point that Dee realised she was standing on a narrow wooden ledge about ten or fifteen centimetres off the ground. The outer edges were both raised higher than the middle and there were troughs carved into the surface leading to a central hole. She could see some sort of collection dish sitting beneath the hole.

"What's this? Are you shaking, Alice?" The Black King was laughing cruelly at her. "Good, I want to taste your fear." He stalked over to Dee, he was so close she could smell his breath. She tried to recoil in horror but she couldn't move. Then intense pain. First one leg and then the other. Despite her intention to remain silent, her breath caught and noises of suffering escaped as the blade dug into her skin.

When the king drew back Dee looked down and saw two long horizontal cuts just below the ragged edge of her torn jeans and blood was already beginning to run down her legs.

"Don't worry, Alice! His Highness knows how to avoid a fatal a-meow-nt of blood loss." Siam spoke up from where he was standing to the left of the throne. The Black King had sat back down to watch her lifeblood trickling into the bowl and Maryanne had silently taken up position on the king's other side.

"Yes, I need to drink the 'living' blood of an 'Alice' to obtain eternal life, so I can't allow you to die just yet. Once I achieve immortality, I'll have no reason to fear battle or even the inevitable passage of time. I will be able to fulfil my ambitions myself without the need for an heir." The Black King's final words intrigued Dee. _'Either he believes Noir is dead or he's disowned him. At any rate, there doesn't appear to be any love lost between them.'_

The wounds on Dee's legs were making it incredibly painful to stand, she tried to support herself using her wrist restraints but she couldn't move enough to shift her weight effectively. She was becoming light headed and was finding it difficult to think straight as more and more blood flowed out of her. It seemed that her body couldn't create clots quickly enough over such a large area to stem the bleeding so the collection dish was filling rapidly.

At the Black King's nod, Maryanne approached Dee and deftly switched the container with another identical one. The king stood from his throne and took the bowl from Maryanne, the smile on his face was full of insanity and lust for power.

"At last, with this I'll finally become the King of Wonderland!" The Black King spoke in a delighted voice as he looked into the bowl before starting to bring it to his lips.

There was the sound of shattering glass and the dish flew from the tyrant's hands, striking the wall and spilling its contents everywhere. It had all been too quick for Dee to truly comprehend what had just happened but when she turned her gaze towards the other end of the room, she saw Bill squatting on an internal ledge with the jagged edges of a broken stained glass window surrounding him.

"Not happening and if you try to drink her blood again then the next one is going straight between your eyes!" The former thief already had his bow nocked and drawn ready to carry out his threat.

"You disgusting little lizard!" The Black King drew his sword in rage. "You dare to opp-!" His shouts were interrupted by the double doors to the throne room being kicked open from the other side. Ash rushed in with his greatsword in hand, making a beeline for the Black King. However, he was intercepted by Maryanne and her iron pipe, the clang of their weapons reverberating around the cavernous hall.

Dee watched as the strongest warrior in the Mouse clan and the strongest assassin in Gentiana engaged in combat. Maryanne wielded her pipe like it was a feather, swinging it down in an attempt to crush Ash's skull. He blocked it with his sword and delivered a kick to her stomach to force her backwards before trying to press his advantage by lunging at her. It was then Dee spotted Mad running towards her but Siam jumped into his path with his dual blades drawn.

"Not so fast, hatter! Purrrr-pare to die!" The Cat Knight shouted. Mad barely had time to pull out his loaded cane to parry the blow but he was easily able to push Siam's attack away.

"I don't have time to waste with a kitten like you. Now, run away and hide somewhere like you always do." Mad was speaking in his dark voice as he pointed his sword at his opponent.

"K-K-K-KITTEN?! Me-how dare you! I am a purroud Cat Knight of Gentiana and I will defeat you!" Siam was infuriated by the magician's words and he pounced at Mad with a feral growl, attacking like a wild animal and forcing the hatter on to the backfoot as he defended the flurry of attacks.

Dee had been so focused on Mad and Siam that she didn't notice Sakuto until he was right in front of her, he kicked over the collection bowl in disgust and started tugging on her restraints to release them. The girl saw the Black King rushing over to them, raising his broadsword high in the air in preparation to attack.

"Prince Sakuto, behind you!" Dee shouted in warning. The White Prince rolled out of the way at the last second and the Black King struck only stone. The tyrant growled in frustration at missing but he was quick to recover. Sakuto found himself in a corner, he wouldn't be able to evade the next blow when it came.

"A fitting end for the cowardly Rabbit Prince of Gardenia…" The Black King smirked as he rushed at the prince and swung at him before Sakuto could ready his rapier. But the blow was unexpectedly blocked by Noir using long metal claw-like weapons extending from devices on the backs of both of his hands.

"Get Dee! Leave my father to me!" The purple haired prince ordered as he pushed against the Black King's sword to force him to take a few steps back before following through with his own attack.

"Noir…" Dee breathed out softly, she could only imagine how it felt to cross swords with your own family. Sakuto hurried back over and resumed trying to break her shackles. When Dee looked back towards the doors, she saw Joker standing at the threshold fending off the Black Knights that were trying to get in to help their lord.

The confined space of the doorway was working to Joker's advantage, there wasn't enough room for too many enemies to attack him at once. The blades of his knives flashed in the light as he fought like a man possessed. Bill had moved further into the room and was covering Joker from atop a hunting trophy mounted to the wall. Any soldiers that had Joker in their sights soon found themselves with an unexpected arrow in their sword hand.

Meanwhile, Sakuto couldn't remove the bonds fastening her to the wall no matter how hard he tried, he'd even cut his palm on the iron in his frantic efforts. The prince tried not to panic but he could see Dee's condition was worsening by the moment.

"MAD! SHACKLES!" Sakuto shouted in desperation. Dee moved her rapidly blurring eyes to where the magician was still engaged in combat with Siam. At hearing Sakuto's voice, he threw the Cat Knight into the wall with a vicious fling of his arm to buy himself a few moments. While Siam was temporarily stunned, Mad waved his cane and all the clasps binding her instantly turned into beautiful butterflies.

No longer being held up externally, Dee fell into Sakuto's arms and he gently laid her on the ground. He tore sections off of his cape and tied the fabric tightly over her wounds, pressing down hard on both of them with his hands.

"I know it hurts, Dee, I'm sorry but bear with it. We need to stop the bleeding." Dee barely heard him, the change of position from standing to laying down had made her so dizzy she thought she was going to pass out. "Stay with me! Whatever you do, don't close your eyes!" Sakuto commanded her while he kept looking around to make sure no one tried to sneak up on him.

His gaze passed over where Noir and the Black King were still clashing fiercely. While the king had the upper hand in raw power, the Black Prince made up for that with pure speed. Also, with his claws he forced his father to watch where both his son's hands were at the same time so as not to leave himself open to a secondary attack.

Eventually Noir saw an opportunity and took it. He slashed at the Black King's right leg, leaving deep gouges. Falling to one knee, his father grit his teeth against the pain as he glared at the Black Prince.

"You know, I never understood why my own son couldn't see how perfect my vision for Wonderland was… However, I don't require your approval. I *will* become a god among men and rule this world!" The Black King's voice was defiant, refusing to yield. Noir looked down at him with cold eyes.

"I see… I was afraid that the only way I could stop you from hurting any more people and destroying everything would be by killing you and taking the throne myself… So be it." Without hesitation, Noir swung the talons on his right hand downwards. The king managed to lift his sword to block it but the Black Prince cleaved off the Black King's head cleanly with his left-hand claws.

Noir stared at his father's fallen body for a moment before he turned to where Ash was still having an intense fight.

"Maryanne…" The prince called to her. "The Black King has fallen. I am your new master. Cease fighting." The assassin immediately jumped back from the Mouse and put away her iron pipe before bowing to Noir.

"As you wish, Master." Her voice as emotionless as ever. The Black Prince moved his attention to Mad and Siam. Even though the Cat Knight couldn't overpower the hatter, his relentless attacks meant that Mad couldn't afford to let his guard down even for a moment.

"Siam, put away your swords. The prince of this land has returned." Noir saw the Cat Knight freeze. He looked uncertain as to whether he should obey the orders of someone who just murdered his king. So Noir continued. "I know Santorina robbed you of your honour as a knight. Swear fealty to me and I promise that you'll never have to participate in such a massacre again." Siam's ears twitched at that, and after a moment's thought, he sheathed both his swords and gave the Black Prince a wordless bow.

That left the Black Knights that were still trying to get past Joker and Bill. Noir gathered Ash and Mad to him and quickly outlined his plan. Then the prince ran to one door and Ash ran to the other and they started to close them. Both doors were made of heavy wood, and when the troops realised what was happening, they began pushing back, making things even harder. Bill jumped down from his vantage point and lent his strength to Noir.

"Joker! On three, jump back!" Mad shouted from behind once the gap in between the doors was only big enough for a single person. "One… two… three!" Joker leapt clear while Ash, Bill and Noir slammed the doors closed. The magician waved his cane and a beam as thick as a railroad tie appeared, sealing the entrance from within.

Ignoring the pounding from the other side, they all bolted over to where Sakuto was still kneeling next to Dee. Things didn't look good, both her legs were covered with fresh blood, her skin was as white as porcelain, her breathing was shallow and she appeared to have passed out.

"I've done what I can but we need to get her somewhere safe so she can receive further treatment." Sakuto gently picked Dee up in his arms and got to his feet.

"I'll teleport you all to Chalk Castle now so you can get her some help." Noir told them as he drew a magic circle with his hand.

"You're not coming with us?" Mad asked him in surprise, glancing towards the barred door in worry.

"No, I don't want Gentiana to fall into anarchy and chaos." The Black Prince shook his head. "I need to stay here and take ownership of what I've done. I need to convince the people that I'm fit to rule this land." No one could think of anything to say against that so Noir started mumbling an incantation and the circle began to glow. Just before everyone disappeared, Sakuto spoke up.

"It's good to finally have you back."

* * *

The next day, Dee was safe in the castle. She had been rescued from the clutches of the Black King and her wounds had been cleaned, treated and bandaged. But her body had been through a lot, and to make matters worse, she had suddenly come down with a terrible fever.

"How is she doing, Mad?" Sakuto came into the guest bedroom that Dee was staying in. Although he wanted to be by her side, he had his role as the White Prince to fulfil especially as his father was still very ill himself.

"Not great, she lost a lot of blood which made her extremely vulnerable to any illness that might strike." Mad was sitting right next to Dee's bed, constantly monitoring her for any deterioration in her condition. Bill, Ash and Joker were leaning against the wall nearby, looking troubled.

"Don't forget Dee's been coming to Wonderland every night for weeks so there's no way she's been getting as much sleep as she needs either." Bill commented as he unfastened and refastened his vambraces in a nervous action.

"In other words, she's in a pretty poor state to be fighting off something like this." Joker paraphrased grumpily as he shoved his hands in his pockets, though he didn't take his eyes off Dee for a second.

"I've temporarily closed the door to the Alice world with magic. Dee needs as much rest as she can get and it'll be easier to take care of her without having to flip between worlds." Mad informed them all. Sakuto walked over and put a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"You've used a lot of your power lately; you must be exhausted. Why don't you get some sleep in the guestroom next door?" The White Prince smiled at him and continued before the hatter could protest. "Someone will always be with Dee and we'll get you if she suddenly gets worse." At seeing his arguments pre-countered, Mad stood from his chair.

"Fine, I'll have a short nap." The magician waved his cane and a piece of paper appeared. "This is a list of things we need to be doing for her. Make sure to write down the times." After handing it to Sakuto he left the room.

"Well if someone needs to be with Dee to monitor her constantly, then we are probably best taking turns on rotation." Bill suggested. Ash pushed himself off the wall and walked towards the prince.

"In that case, I'll take the first shift." The Mouse offered as he took the instruction sheet from Sakuto and sat down on the chair by the bed.

"You're kidding, right? You'll be asleep five minutes after we walk out the room!" Joker remarked in disbelief, not approving of the arrangement.

"I won't sleep while I've got a job to do. Anyway, if I did, Mad would rig my bed and pillow to turn into bricks like he did last time I messed up." Ash didn't look like he intended to back down so Bill put a hand on Joker's shoulder and gave it an encouraging shake to get him to move.

"He'll be fine. You can take the next turn if you're that worried." The Lizard gave Sakuto a wave as he bundled Joker out the door and added in parting. "Call for us if you need to beforehand."

"I'll get someone to bring in some soup for Dee. That seemed to be a pretty high priority on Mad's list. Thank you, Ash." The White Prince gave the mouse warrior a smile as he left the room too.

Once the door closed, Ash lent forward and took the chance to get a closer look at Dee's face. Her cheeks were reddened from the fever but perhaps it was more noticeable because the rest of her skin was still very pale. Her breathing appeared to be quite fast but Mad had said that was because she was ill.

Dee had been in a terrible state when they'd finally got her back. Ash couldn't help thinking that if only they'd been told she'd gone missing sooner, they might have been able to rescue her before the Black King had had the chance to bleed her. The only good thing to come out of this was that with the death of the man who'd destroyed their country, the fallen warriors of Santorina had finally been avenged.

Ash looked up at a knock at the door and a rabbit maid came in with some soup on a tray. The Mouse stood and took it from her with a nod of thanks before placing it on the bedside table. He lent down and put a hand on Dee's shoulder and gently shook it.

"Dee, time to wake up…" Ash kept his voice low so as not to give her a start. The girl opened her eyes with a groan and looked up at him. He gave her a small smile. "There you are. I've got some food for you; think you can sit up?" He took a step back and Dee attempted to push herself up with her arms but she didn't have the energy so she flopped back down.

"Doesn't look like it." Her voice was croaky and she covered her eyes with a hand as she was hit with a dizzy spell. Ash gently lifted Dee upright and slipped into the bed behind her so he could support her weight against his chest.

"How's that feel? Think you can eat some soup?" Ash asked her as he grabbed the tray and placed it across her lap. He could feel how high her fever was through her back as she was radiating heat.

"Yeah, just… gimme a minute…" Dee still had her eyes covered as she fought back light-headedness and nausea. Once she felt a bit better, she lowered her hand and tried to lighten the atmosphere a little. "I hope you didn't plan to feed me too."

"If you have any problems holding that spoon steady then that's exactly what I'm going to do." Even though Dee couldn't see Ash's face, she could hear the smile in his voice as he half-joked with her and it made her chuckle.

"Owww! Don't make me laugh, everything hurts when I laugh." Dee bit her lip to calm herself down before picking up her spoon to eat. The soup was a nutritious broth, designed to help her regain her strength quickly without being too hard to digest. Dee ate slowly, not wanting to make herself sick but even the simple action of repeatedly raising a spoon to her lips was wiping out her limited energy. She lent back against Ash's chest and shook her head in defeat with a noise that could have been a sob.

Ash frowned and picked up an empty water glass from the bedside cabinet in one hand and the soup bowl in the other. He carefully poured the broth into the glass.

"Here, take some more sips of this. I'll hold it, you just concentrate on drinking as much as you can." Ash didn't like seeing Dee in such a weakened state, but he knew one way to change that was to make sure she ate properly. The woman did as she was asked and drank the soup while Ash patiently held the glass for her with both his hands.

"Thank you for this, Ash…" Dee told the mouse as she took a short break from the broth to allow her stomach to settle. "…In fact, I don't think I've thanked everyone for coming to rescue me yet."

"Don't worry about it, you can thank us by getting better soon… and baking another cake." Ash replied, making Dee laugh lightly again.

"Alright, done. We can have a potluck party while we're at it, that should be really fun." Dee made an effort to drink a bit more of the soup.

"What's a potluck party?" Ash could feel Dee was gradually sliding down from her sitting position. He guessed she was reaching the limits of her current stamina.

"It's a party where everyone who is invited contributes a dish each. It's called potluck because you don't know what you're going to end up with." Dee explained the premise behind it before she gave an exhausted sigh. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

"Isn't that usually my line?" Ash asked rhetorically with a laugh of his own. He put the glass of soup down and picked up a clean one filled with water. "Mad prescribes fluids." The Mouse held the glass to Dee's lips and she obediently took a long drink.

"I'm very surprised it's not tea." Dee commented with a small smile. Mad had been the one who had taken care of the cuts on her legs, he said he couldn't heal wounds that deep with magic alone. So, the magician had cleaned them up and spread a herbal paste over them to prevent infection and help with the pain, before covering them with cotton bandages that wouldn't stick to the cuts.

"Be warned, you will be force fed and drowned in tea as soon as Mad thinks you can handle it. Tea cures everything, don't you know?" Ash's tone was amused but he was being serious. He encouraged Dee to drink a bit more before putting the water on the side. The warrior then slipped off the bed carefully and helped Dee to lie back down, removing the tray in the process.

"Get some sleep. I'll be right here so don't worry." Ash pushed back her hair affectionately as he pulled the blankets up. Dee gave him a small nod and closed her eyes, falling into a deep slumber.

Darkness and the smell of blood. Dee was alone and she didn't know where she was. A shiver ran down her spine as she strained her eyes, desperately trying to see something through the gloom. When she tried to take a step, pain shot through her legs and she fell to the ground. When she placed a hand on her thigh, she could feel it was wet and a little sticky. It was then that she realised the smell of blood was coming from her.

"Alice." A sudden voice made Dee look up in shock. The Black King had appeared and was towering over her with his weapon drawn. Her mind went blank in terror and she couldn't move as he silently lifted his sword high and swung it straight down at her.

Dee sat bolt upright with a shriek of fright; she was breathing heavily and drenched in sweat as she looked around frantically for the Black King.

"Dee!" Joker had stood up so quickly that the chair clattered to the floor behind him and that sound only served to deepen her panic. Joker tried to calm Dee down but her fever and fear made that almost impossible. Eventually Joker put his hands on both sides of her head and forced her to look at his face. "Look at me! You're alright, you're safe. I'm right here." It took a moment but he saw the blind terror start to fade from her eyes as she focused on him.

"Joker? …Thank god it's really you! I had the most frightening nightmare! The Black King was going to kill me!" Even though she knew it wasn't real, Dee just couldn't stop shaking and her eyes were brimming with tears. Joker sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped her up in a strong hug, stroking her back gently.

"It was just a dream, take a deep breath and calm down. I'm not going anywhere and I promise I won't let go until you feel better." His voice was low and soothing. Dee wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his neck to muffle her tears. They sat in silence like that for a while until Dee finally stopped trembling and drew back.

"Thank you…" She said, wincing as she tried to slide back to sit against the headboard and admitted to him. "I think I might have sat up too quickly before." Joker frowned in concern.

"Do you think you might have reopened your wounds?" He lifted the blankets briefly to have a quick look. "There's no fresh blood on the bandages so I think we're alright. Are you in a lot of pain?" He questioned.

"Yeah…" Dee nodded as she shifted again to try and make herself more comfortable. Joker got up and poured out a fresh glass of water from a pitcher on the table.

"According to Doctor Mad, we're supposed to give you this stuff for pain." He opened up a small paper envelope and tipped some powder into the cup. Joker swirled the water in the glass for a moment to mix it in before handing it over.

"It's made the water all sparkly." Dee commented with a small smile, while Joker picked up the chair he'd knocked over and sat back down. She took an experimental sip. "Tastes a bit odd but it's not too bad."

"Apparently that should help with your fever a bit too so try and drink it all." Joker encouraged her. "The twins wanted to come and see you but I told them you weren't up to it. Though I'll have to bring them when you're feeling better or I'll never get any peace." He sounded exasperated but Dee knew he loved those kids with all his heart.

"Aww, that's sweet of them. But it was a good call, they wear me out when I'm perfectly healthy, not sure I'd survive them right now." She said with a fond smile as she sipped at her drink. "This is helping with the pain, thanks." Joker smiled with a nod at hearing that.

There was a quiet knock on the door and it opened to reveal Sakuto. He looked delighted at seeing Dee sitting up and awake.

"How are you feeling now, Dee?" The White Prince asked her as he approached the side of the bed.

"I'm ok if I keep perfectly still and don't move. The moment I try to do anything then I feel sick, dizzy and exhausted." She was being honest because she knew it wasn't the right time to try and put a brave face on things.

"Once you've finished that glass, I'll help you lie back down so you can get some more sleep." Joker had noticed that Dee's face had been losing colour while she'd been sat up.

"Speaking of sleep, I checked in next door. Mad's still out of it despite insisting he was only going for a 'short nap'." Sakuto sounded amused. "Honestly, he's been like a wolf protecting their young since the moment we got you back to the castle. He wouldn't let any of my staff lend a hand at all."

Dee couldn't help but feel touched after hearing that and she was smiling as she finished her glass. Joker took it from her and hovered as Dee carefully shuffled down the bed so she could lie flat again. He straightened the blankets out and Dee closed her eyes with a tired sigh. Joker sat back down and notice Sakuto was staring at him with an entertained expression.

"What's that look for?" Joker questioned him defensively as he folded his arms across his chest.

"I couldn't help thinking that if Mad's a wolf with her, then you're probably a bear." The prince laughed quietly as Joker shot him an unimpressed glare. Sakuto gave him a small wave as he silently left the room to get back to his duties, knowing Dee was in safe hands.

* * *

Two days later and Dee was feeling a bit better, the fever was lower than it had been and small movements didn't automatically make her feel sick. She was sitting up in bed reading a book Sakuto had brought up from the library when Bill walked in with a tray full of things.

"Wound check time!" He declared cheerfully as he came and put the tray on the floor by the bed. "You don't mind me being the one doing this, do you?" Dee put a bookmark in to mark her place and put the book aside with a shake of her head.

"Nah, it's only you after all." She teased him as she helped fold the blankets down to expose the bandages on her legs.

"I don't know whether to feel honoured or insulted right now." Bill commented with a grin as he took a small pair of scissors to cut through the cotton bandages on her right leg, doing the same to the left and removing them. "Right, now to clean this gunk off so we can get a look at the cuts." The carpenter soaked a small cloth in a bowl of warm water, squeezing out the excess before gently cleaning the area around the wound.

"Don't let Mad hear you call his healing salve 'gunk', he seems to be extremely proud of it for some reason." Dee warned him before she sucked in her breath and bit the inside of her cheek when he touched a tender part.

"Sorry, I'm trying to be quick but thorough. I'll give you some more fairy water once I'm done." Bill promised her when he noticed her discomfort. Dee had started calling Mad's painkilling medicine 'Fairy water' on account of the sparkles and the name seemed to have been adopted by everyone.

The Lizard finished the cleaning and used a dry cloth to gently pat both of her legs dry. Mad had told them to leave the cuts exposed to the air for a few minutes to aid healing before rebandaging them.

"How's it looking?" Dee asked as Bill got up to prepare the water for her. She could physically see for herself but she didn't know the first thing about what a healing cut should look like. "Think I'll be allowed to stand and walk soon?"

"Not yet, they're healing nicely but the new skin will split if you start walking around too soon." Bill told her while he stirred the powder in with a small spoon. "Don't forget you're still sick as well. If you stood up, you'd probably fall flat on your face… and while that would be hilarious, Sakuto would probably end me." He gave Dee the glass and she took a sip.

"All I've been doing is lying around and sleeping though." She grumbled, she hated how tired she was all the time. Dee understood it was because of the fever and the fact she was seriously anaemic; it would take time for her body to replenish her blood supply but she couldn't help feeling impatient. "Do you think these will leave big scars once they're fully healed?" She asked quietly after a few moments of silence as she looked at the reddened and slightly swollen skin.

Bill frowned at hearing her question and tone so he sat on the edge of the bed beside her and put an arm around her shoulders, squeezing them.

"If we take care of them well enough then they shouldn't scar up too badly... Why? Do you think it'll bother you?" Bill enquired carefully; the girl had been a little overwrought at times over the past couple of days and he didn't want to set her off if he could help it.

"I didn't think it would… but these are gonna be really big and noticeable, especially if I wear a skirt or something." Dee admitted as she sipped her medicine. She was feeling a little childish at letting something like this bother her, she was very lucky to be alive, with or without scars.

"Firstly, when do you ever wear skirts? Secondly, you aren't leaving the house wearing anything short enough to show them if I have anything to say about it, young lady." Bill was teasing her purposefully to cheer her up. He achieved his aim when Dee snickered into her glass.

"Yes, Dad, I understand." She shook her head with a smile on her face. Bill gave her another firm squeeze before getting up to finish up treating her legs. He took out the pot of salve and spread a generous amount over both cuts. Once he'd wiped the excess mixture off his hands, he took a roll of cotton bandages and wrapped both wounds up to protect them.

"There, all done." Bill stood up from the bed and pulled the blankets back up. "I'm gonna get rid of all this stuff but I'll be back in a few minutes to keep you company." He bent down to pick up the tray and headed out the door. Dee went back to her book while she waited and when the door opened again a few minutes later, it wasn't who she was expecting.

"Noir!" She exclaimed in delight, immediately putting her book aside as the purple haired man grinned back and came and took a seat by the bed.

"Sorry I took so long; I wanted to come and see how you were doing a lot sooner but there were so many things in Gentiana that I had to take care of." Noir told her as he scooted his chair closer, he took both of Dee's hands in his and raised them for a moment so he could look her over. "You're looking a lot better than when I last saw you… though I think anything would be better than when I last saw you to be fair."

"Yeah, they won't let me get up yet but I'm getting there… But I'm more concerned about you, are you okay?" Dee enquired in a worried tone as she squeezed Noir's hands _'He killed his father with his own hands, that must have been so hard for him to do.'_ As if he could read her thoughts, he gave her a reassuring smile.

"That man had stopped behaving like a father a long time ago. Don't worry, I'm not sad… and maybe that's the saddest thing of all by itself." Noir allowed himself a moment of sorrow before changing the subject slightly. "I managed to convince most people in Gentiana to accept my ascension to the throne, which makes me the new Black King, I guess. It seems a lot of citizens have been waiting for the chance at a brighter future so I've got to work hard to deliver it."

"If anyone can do it, it's you, Noir." Dee stated with unwavering sincerity. "You gave up everything you had ever known to try and change Wonderland for the better in secret and you managed to do just that. I have absolute faith in you." There was a faint blush on Noir's face at that ringing endorsement and he averted his eyes.

"I couldn't have done it without you, Dee. Thanks to your little courtroom speech, Ruber returned every 'Heart' she's ever stolen and with Gentiana under my control I can stop these pointless hostilities and start building beneficial relationships with other countries." Noir smiled at her and released one of her hands. "It's gonna be hard to ever fully repay you for all that but I'll start with this…" He snapped his fingers and a jewelled key fell into his open palm.

"What's this?" Dee asked as she took it from him to look at. It didn't appear to be big enough to fit in a normal lock. _'It's so pretty, perhaps it's function is purely decorative?'_

"It's a key to Wonderland. From now you won't need Ruber's or Mad's magic to travel between your world and here. You can choose whether to come to Wonderland in your sleep or not. Do you remember that jewellery box you bought from me? Use this key to lock the box when you don't want to come and unlock it when you do." Noir explained to her as he closed her fingers gently around the key.

"Is it really ok for someone like me to have this?" Dee asked uncertain but at receiving Noir's firm and encouraging nod she took off the wooden talisman necklace that she still wore around her neck and slipped the key on to the leather cord. "Thank you, I'll treasure it."

"Good. I hope you still come to Wonderland on a regular basis. I want you to bear witness to the changes you helped make happen. First thing is going to be the restoration of Santorina." Noir told her, watching as Dee beamed from ear to ear.

"Ash and Irena will be thrilled!" She exclaimed, though the mention of the Mouse folk made her think of something. "I've been wanting to ask you, seeing as Gentiana has Cat Knights, does that mean you're a Cat?"

"Yes, that's right. Though I don't have cat ears that pop out when I'm surprised or otherwise… And there's really no reason to look *that* disappointed about it!" Noir clicked his tongue against his teeth in annoyance at the expression on Dee's face.

"Sorry…" She knew she didn't sound very sorry so she changed the subject. "I'm planning on holding a potluck picnic party once I'm back on my feet, literally and figuratively. I know you're really busy but I'd like it if you could come?"

"Give me plenty of notice about when it's happening and I'll do my best to be there." Noir promised with a smile, then he stood up from his chair. "And with that, I'm afraid I have to go now; I've got some diplomatic stuff to talk to Sakuto about before heading back to Gentiana. Take it easy and don't push yourself, alright?"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Take care and hopefully see you soon." Dee gave Noir a tight squeeze as he lent down to give her a farewell hug. After he'd left Dee took a moment to look down at the little key hanging around her neck. _'I have my own key to this world... It makes me feel like I'm really not an 'Alice' anymore.'_ and with that thought warming her heart, she decided to lay down and get some more sleep.

* * *

The next day Sakuto came into Dee's room and, to his shock, he found her sitting in a chair by the bed.

"Did Mad say you could get up yet?" The White Prince's rabbit ears had popped out and he was trying to cover his embarrassment and ended up sounding more annoyed than he intended to.

"I only moved ten centimetres from the bed to the chair, Sakuto. Didn't anybody tell you that too much bedrest can be counterproductive?" Dee answered him in a stubborn tone.

"Well yes, just as long as you don't overdo it because you find it impossible to stay still." The prince seemed to recognise a losing battle when he saw one so instead, he came and sat on the edge of the bed next to the chair. "A messenger from Protea came with a letter for you."

"For me?" Dee sounded surprised as she took it from Sakuto. She broke the wax seal and pulled out a document. After reading for a few moments she spoke up. "It's hard to decipher all the unnecessary diplomatic waffle but from what I can gather, it's looks like I've been pardoned."

"May I?" The White Prince held out his hand and Dee gave him the letter to look at. "Yes, you're right. This is an official pardon bearing Ruber's signature and seal. You're no longer under the threat of execution and you get to keep your 'Heart'. Congratulations!"

"That's brilliant news to start the morning with!" Dee grinned and would have jumped for joy if she'd been physically able to. "That'll be another thing to celebrate at the party, right, Sakuto?"

"Right… So, it looks like you've finally dropped the 'Prince'. It's about time, really." He had a pleased smile on his face and Dee rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment.

"Yeeeeah about that, in the beginning I think I was trying to keep an emotional distance from you. I mean, the first thing you said to me was how appalling it was that I had to go through the trial with the threat of beheading in the first place and how you'd do anything in your power to help…" Dee picked up a glass of water to drink so she didn't have to look at Sakuto as she continued.

"You were being so incredibly nice and sympathetic that red flashing alarm bells were going off everywhere in my head because of me and my issues. So in the end, I never even gave you a fair chance and I'm sorry." Sakuto watched as Dee blushed and avoided eye contact with him in her shame.

In truth, he'd worked much of this out for himself when he learned of her history at the recall trial. The White Prince gently took her hand in both of his.

"Dee, look at me…" When she did, he gave her another warm smile. "You have nothing to apologise for. You had every right to be wary of me and to try and protect yourself. I'm just glad that despite 'you and your issues' we were still able to become such good friends." Sakuto's heartfelt words made tears come to Dee's eyes which she quickly tried to wipe away with her free hand.

"For Heaven's sake! I can't wait till I'm better; I keep crying at the drop of a hat!" She gave in trying to stop the tears and looked at the prince's gentle smile. "This is probably gonna make me cry more but… thank you for being you. I really wish I'd met you a long time ago …Friends forever?"

Sakuto's smile widened and he raised Dee's hand to his lips and kissed the back of it, then without breaking eye contact, he said

"Friends forever." That gesture only made Dee cry harder so Sakuto offered her his handkerchief. "Here, use this… I know it's easy to say this but you shouldn't be ashamed of your tears, especially happy ones."

"Says the man who hates surprises." Dee couldn't resist teasing him a little as she dried her eyes with the soft handkerchief. That comment made Sakuto blush lightly but he gave a half-shrug in resignation. Then the door opened to reveal Mad carrying a tea set, which he almost dropped when he saw Dee was out of bed.

"I could see Joker and Bill as co-conspirators in an escape plan but not you, Sakuto!" Mad threw an accusing look at the prince who just held his hands up in surrender and stood up.

"She was already in the chair by the time I got here. I'll leave you to negotiate her repatriation to the bed, I've got some things to see to." Sakuto gave them both a small bow before taking his leave. For her part, Dee was barely holding in her laughter at these dramatics.

"S-So what sort of tea have you brought me?" Dee tried to distract Mad as he came and put the tray down on the bedside table.

"Ginger and hawthorn… but I'm not sure I should give you any now." The magician sulked as he waved his cane and summoned a chair so he could sit down opposite her with his arms folded.

"Oh, don't pout! I'm not in pain at the moment and I promise I'll move back to the bed as soon as I get tired or sore." Dee coaxed him while tugging on his elbow to make him uncross his arms. It seemed to do the trick as Mad lent over and picked up the teapot to pour out two cups.

"I'll forgive you if you promise not to try and move around again without someone here. I don't want you falling over if you're not as fine as you think you are." Dee nodded her assent as the hatter handed over her tea and he finally smiled again. That sorted, Dee blew on her tea to cool it before taking an experimental sip and her eyes immediately popped open in shock.

"Just how much ginger did you put in this, Mad?! I feel like I bit straight into a raw root of it!" Dee coughed as she put her cup down so she could grab a glass of water.

"Oh no, did I overdo it? I put a lot in because it's good for your immune system." Mad replied looking concerned as he watched Dee take a long drink to get the taste of ginger out of her mouth.

"Well yeah, because tea that strong would destroy anything in its path, friend or foe!" Dee put her glass down and pressed a hand to her chest. "Well, if I wasn't awake before I am now."

"I'm sorry, let's go for just hawthorn tea then. I've had this recipe before and it was fine." Mad waved his cane and the tea set was replaced with another one.

"If this one nearly kills me too then I'm expecting cookies, just so as you know." Dee told him as she poured herself another cup, sniffing it before taking a very tentative sip. "Ok, this is nice. You are forgiven."

"Good, second time's a charm then." Mad smiled as he sipped on his own tea before fixing Dee with a searching look. "Have you had anymore nightmares since that first one?"

"No, thankfully not!" She grimaced as she recalled that frightening dream. "It was possibly because my fever was so high that day."

"Probably, but tell me if you do start getting them again, I'll give you some valerian root tea for you to drink before bed." Mad told her, looking confused when Dee laughed in response. "What's funny?"

"Ash was right. He said you'd drown me in tea because you think tea cures all ills." Dee filled him in with an amused smile.

"There are very few situations in life that I've come across that have not been improved by a good cup of tea, and the remainder usually require a fine hat." Mad grinned at her. "It's the philosophy I live by and it's done me very well so far, at least."

"I'll drink to that!" Dee laughed and raised her tea cup in toast and when Mad gently clinked his against it she continued. "Don't ever change. No matter what anyone says to you, just carry on being a hat and tea obsessed ray of sunshine in my life."

"Flattery will get you everywhere!" Mad's cheeks were pink with delight as he waved his cane and a plate of triple chocolate cookies appeared on the table.

"It's not flattery if it's true." Dee informed him as she picked up one of the cookies and they continued enjoying their own private tea party.

* * *

A week later and it was a pleasantly warm day in the park where the potluck picnic party was just starting. Joker had brought some homemade sage and onion hamburgers which he was cooking on a nearby community grill, Bill had brought a bacon and feta cheese salad and Dee had made three cakes again: a raspberry cheesecake, a chocolate truffle cake and a salted caramel cake.

"Part of me is like: Yay! Dee's cake! But the other is like: This is not my definition of taking it easy, missy!" Bill was helping Dee take her cakes out of the boxes and onto plates so they could slice them.

"I did take it easy! Look, I've not even decorated these, I've only iced them." Dee defended herself as she sat down on the picnic blanket.

"Still, you were probably standing a lot to make these… brought any fairy water with you?" The Lizard questioned her worriedly and Dee dug a sports bottle out of her bag to show him and Bill finally looked satisfied.

The wounds on her legs were still healing but as soon as Dee had got over her fever, there was no force in Wonderland that could stop her. She'd been determined to hold this celebratory party as soon as reasonably possible and the others went along with it, if only to make sure she didn't overdo it. Dee was under strict instructions to stay sitting down as much as possible today.

Ash had brought along some kind of fresh fruit and cheese skewer things that didn't require cooking because he was a liability in the kitchen. Currently the warrior was allowing Humpty and Dumpty to wrestle him to the ground on the grass. Noir had managed to make it and had brought a load of seasoned chicken pieces to cook on the grill once it was free again.

"Dee! Come and play with us!" Dumpty asked as the twins ran over after having 'beaten' Ash into submission. The boys were about to try and pull her to her feet when a voice interrupted them.

"Hey! What did I say to you two before we got here? Dee can't run around with you just yet!" Joker had finished cooking his hamburgers and came over to the picnic blanket with a platter full of cooked hamburgers in rolls.

"Awww, no fair!" Humpty grumbled disappointed before recovering. "Well if Dee can't play with us, big brother can play with us instead!" So, the twins latched on to Joker and Sakuto saved the plate so he didn't drop it.

"What am I? Plan B or something?" Joker protested fruitlessly as he let them drag him over to the roundabout. Ash chuckled at them as he took a burger from the plate before turning to Dee.

"Aunt Irena's been asking how… you're doing." The Mouse told her as he picked up some sauce to put on it. "Pretty sure… she's adopted you now."

"Wouldn't that make us cousins then, Ash?" Dee laughed with a smile as she opened a coolbox they'd brought along that had drinks in it and pulled out a couple of soft drinks for them both. Sakuto and Mad were standing with Noir at the grill, probably discussing high level Wonderland things. Now the war was over, Sakuto had more time to dedicate to other things as Gardenia wasn't constantly under threat of invasion. His father's health also seemed to be improving.

For his part, the White Prince had brought along some elegant spinach and cream cheese puff pastry parcels and Mad had brought a literal box full of handmade snickerdoodles.

"I had to admit, part of me was afraid that Mad's contribution would be a selection of exotic teas or something." Dee commented as she bit into one of the cookies.

"Nah, Mad at least knows that tea doesn't count as food… I think anyway." Bill was munching through one of Ash's fruit-salad-on-a-stick things.

"I'm glad everyone's here but it's a shame Cardia couldn't come along too. Doesn't look like the Red Queen gives him much time off." Dee had invited him but he'd been unable to make it so she was a little disappointed.

"Didn't know stalkers were your thing, Dee." Joker had managed to escape from Humpty and Dumpty and flopped down on to the blanket, already tired out.

"Come off it, it's not like that and he's not a stalker either. The queen just asked him to watch me for a while." Dee defended Cardia. No one spoke for a beat or two and Joker was just grinning at her. "…Oh, shush you!" She threw a screwed-up paper napkin at him and he laughed. Noir finished up grilling the chicken he'd brought and Sakuto and Mad rounded up the kids now all the food was finished.

"Good thing we brought a large blanket with us." The prince commented as the nine of them sat in a circle with all the food in the middle. Paper plates were passed around and everyone helped themselves to whatever they fancied and drinks from the coolbox were handed out as required.

"Oh Dee! I almost forgot! We made something for you!" Humpty piped up from one side, while he was half way through his plate. He dug into his pocket and pulled out something wrapped in tissue paper. Dee took it from him looking intrigued. When she unwrapped it, she saw it was two beautiful braided flower bracelets.

"Ash showed us a meadow in Wonderland where the flowers don't die even after you pick them! So, we made these the way you taught us!" Dumpty told Dee from her other side.

"You kids… thank you! I love them!" The girl wrapped an arm each around them and gave them a hard squeeze before she put the bracelets on her wrist. "They smell so fragrant, does the smell stay around if they don't die?" Dee asked as she raised her wrist to her nose.

"It does but you'll get used to it and stop smelling it if you wear the bracelets every day." Noir chimed in as he took a slice of the salted caramel cake. "I finally get to try one of Dee's famous cakes that everyone keeps going on about."

"You're in for a real treat, Noir." Mad watched him with a grin. The Black King didn't look convinced as he cut a small piece off and put it in his mouth. Then his eyes widened and he stared at the cake in pure shock.

"This is amazing, who did you have to sell your soul to to be able to make something this good?" Noir asked Dee in awe, already eating more of his slice.

"I think it says a lot about you that your first thought about why my cake tastes so good is that I've made some sort of occult offering." Dee grinned at him. "But I chose to take that as a compliment, thanks!"

"I don't normally like things that are too sweet but the saltiness in this with the caramel… I can't get over it." Noir had finished his cake in no time and it was only his royal upbringing that was stopping him from immediately going in for seconds.

"You probably haven't seen Dee's Wonderland Tribute cake either then…" Joker commented as he pulled out his phone and found the pictures of the contest version of the cake and showed it to Noir. The purple haired man scrolled through the pictures looking impressed at the decorations. He paused when he found the Cheshire Cat representation, looking momentarily touched but regained his composure quickly.

"Have you ever considered going into business?" Noir questioned Dee as he handed the phone back to Joker. "I hear people in this world will pay a lot of money for a unique cake for special occasions. You certainly have the talent for it."

"I have thought about it… but because it's a hobby of mine, there's this worry that I wouldn't enjoy it anymore if it became my job, you know what I mean?" Dee told him honestly. "I think I'll stick to making cakes for competitions and my friends for now."

It wasn't long before the twins had finished eating and were ready to run around again, they headed for the playground with Joker's instruction to stay where they could see them ringing in their ears. Ash had eaten his fill and was now lying in the grass with his arms under his head, dozing quietly.

"Annnnnnnd he's asleep. Again." Bill said exasperated, he was always so active that he really didn't understand Ash's love affair with sleep. "I suppose we should be grateful he's on the ground and not up a tree." The Mouse also had a habit of sleeping in, and then falling out of, trees.

"Well I imagine once Santorina is rebuilt, he'll have his own house with a bed to sleep in." Sakuto stated before adding. "Plus, there's likely to be lots of work for you. You've always wanted to build a house from scratch."

"For sure, I think I'm just as excited about the rebuild as the Mouse folk are!" Bill agreed with a grin. Mad was pouring himself a flask of tea when he noticed Dee was staring into space.

"You're looking quite pensive there, Dee, what are you thinking about?" He asked her.

"I was thinking about my 'Heart'… You and Noir are strong magicians so you might have more of an idea. *If* I ever did fall in love someday, do you think my 'Heart' will turn red or stay blue?" Dee posed her question and both Mad and Noir fell silent, mulling it over.

"That's a tough one: On one hand I'd say no because the Awakening Crystal has already formed so if you fell in love it would be like a woman falling in love for the second time…" Noir was the first to speak with his theory.

"Yes, but on the other hand, if she fell in love it would indeed be for the first time so it could change colour. We can only really guess as there's never been a case like yours, Dee." Mad added his thoughts to the debate.

"In other words, no one knows." Joker paraphrased in his normal blunt way. "You could always ask the Red Queen to tell you if it's changed colour when it happens."

"IF it happens, Joker." Dee reminded him, about to have a little of Bill's salad when she spotted something. "Oh no! Mad! Look out!"

"Wha-?! HEY!" A swan had managed to creep up to their picnic and had taken exception to Mad's hat, snatching it from his head. "My beautiful hat! You give that back, you horrid bird!" The hatter immediately gave chase to try and retrieve it from the honking swan.

The sight of a grown man chasing an angry swan with a hat in it's beak was too much for everyone else who just fell about laughing. Dee was in hysterics, her stomach cramping up and she was blinded with tears. Eventually Mad returned to the picnic with his hat in hand, looking very unhappy.

"The swans in this world are so rude compared to the ones in Wonderland." He complained indignantly as he waved his cane to mend his slightly nibbled hat.

"Why didn't you use your magic to get your hat back in the first place?" Noir asked as the only person capable of forming complete sentences right at that moment.

"The thought never even occurred to me." Mad's shocked face almost set Dee off again and she covered her mouth to try and swallow her laughter. Once she'd fully calmed down, she took a look around; Bill was teaching the twins how to use the monkey bars with Joker keeping a protective watch over them. Sakuto, Noir and Mad were chatting over tea and cake. Finally, Ash was snoozing peacefully in the grass next to her. Dee took the little jewelled key hanging around her neck in her hand and squeezed it tightly.

'_By shutting myself away from the world, I've missed out on so much… But events out of my control forced me out of my bunker… It was scary at times but I think I've found where I belong, both in my world and theirs. I won't let fear stop me anymore, I've got a lot of time to make up for… and I'm really looking forward to it.'_

FIN


End file.
